Abu Sayyaf frees Sulu education official

ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Abu Sayyaf freed before dawn Tuesday an education official in Maimbung, Sulu after holding him captive for less than 24 hours, authorities said.

Superintendent Julasirim Kasim, Sulu police director, said the Abu Sayyaf led by Commander Gapor Jumdail snatched 60-year-old Lullong Marrack, officer-in-charge of the Department of Education (DepEd) in the Maimbung school district, at around 8:45 a.m. last Monday.

Marrack was on his way to the commencement exercises of an elementary school in Maimbung where he was the guest when he was seized at gunpoint in Barangay Lagan.

Kasim said Jumdail’s group released Marrack supposedly without ransom at around 1:40 a.m. Tuesday also in Barangay Lagan.

“The victim told me that there was no ransom paid and (his release) was purely negotiated by the village head,” Kasim said.

Kasim said the abduction stemmed from a 30-year-old grudge, although it was not immediately clear if “blood money” was paid for Jumdail’s release.

Jumdail is a younger brother of Abu Sayyaf leader Umbra Jumdail, alias Dr. Abu Pula, who is wanted for the kidnapping of 21 mostly European tourists on the resort island of Sipadan in Malaysia in 2000.

Marine Brig. Gen. Juancho Sabban, chief of anti-terror Joint Task Force Comet, said Marrack’s abduction showed “that even fellow Muslims are not spared by these terrorists.”

“It showed that the Abu Sayyaf is desperate because they spare no one, including their fellow Muslims,” he said.