No ransom demand yet for kidnapped girl - police

ZAMBOANGA CITY – The family of a nine-year-old girl seized by suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels in Lamitan, Basilan last Wednesday night has not yet received any ransom demand from her captors, police said.

But police cited unconfirmed reports that the kidnappers have demanded P2 million for the release of the girl, a daughter of a seaman returning from abroad.

Inspector Constancio Malaloan, Lamitan police chief, said the girl’s parents were waiting for the kidnappers to contact them “to determine what really is their demand so they can seek the immediate (her) release.”

Four armed men grabbed the girl from her mother in front of their house in Barangay Malakas, Lamitan town.

Responding policemen and Marines shot it out with the kidnappers who, however, managed to escape with their young captive.

Police were determining if the same Abu Sayyaf group tagged in the string of kidnappings here and in Basilan was also behind the girl’s abduction.

Intelligence sources though said the girl’s kidnappers belong to the group of Nurhassan Jamiri and Abu Sayyaf leader Puruji Indama, which is still holding captive nursing student Joed Anthony Pilanga for whom it has demanded P20-million ransom.