Senior Abu Sayyaf member arrested in Jolo for kidnapping

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Agents arrested on Saturday night in Jolo, Sulu a senior member of the Islamic State-inspired Abu Sayyaf wanted for kidnapping and other heinous offenses.

Chief Superintendent Graciano Mijares of the Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said Sunday Hashim Abtain, most known in Sulu province as Abu Imam, is now detained, awaiting prosecution.

Mijares said police units in Sulu were assisted by the Police Regional Office-9 in Zamboanga City in the operation that led to Abtain's arrest.

Abtain reportedly enjoyed the protection of certain powerful politicians in Sulu, enabling him to move around in the island province freely.

Sulu, a component area of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, is said to be the most dangerous province in the country and a bastion of the Abu Sayyaf.

"God-fearing vigilant people in the local communities helped the police locate him in Jolo on Saturday night," Mijares said.

Abtain did not resist arrest when personnel of the Sulu provincial police and PRO-9, backed by soldiers, cornered and immediately cuffed him while inside a house along Serrantes Street in Jolo, capital town of Sulu.