ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Joint government security forces captured an Abu Sayyaf militant tagged in the Sipadan kidnapping and the seizure of three International Red Cross workers, in downtown Jolo in Sulu late Tuesday, the military said.
Lt. Col. Randolf Cabangbang, spokesman of the Armed Forces’ Western Mindanao Command, said the suspect, Adzar Patta Mawalil, 34, was believed to be conducting surveillance when he was collared along Scoth Road at around 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Incidentally, Mawalil was captured barely a day after Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo visited Sulu and formally opened the sub-office of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police under Chief Superintendent Raul Boac.
It was not immediately ascertained if Robredo was a target of the Abu Sayyaf surveillance following the bombings last month in Cotabato City which was believed to be directed on the DILG executive, who was overseeing then the screening of candidates for officers-in-charge of the ARMM.
Mawalil, a follower of slain Abu Sayyaf leader Albader Parad, was involved in the 2000 kidnapping of 21 tourists on Sipadan Island.
He was also tagged in the kidnapping of three workers of the International Red Cross in 2010.
Cabangbang, citing intelligence debriefing, said Mawalil was also tagged in the beheading of seven construction workers in Silangkan, Parang town in April 2007. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe