Abu tagged in 2002 Sulu kidnap falls

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Police intelligence agents captured on Thursday in a remote village east of this city a suspected Abu Sayyaf bandit tagged in the 2002 kidnapping of six members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Sulu, authorities said.

Arrested was Nual Pajiran, alias Abdurahman and Abu Kudama, who had a warrant of arrest for six counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention with ransom in connection with the 2002 kidnapping of the six Jehovah’s Witnesses members in Patikul, Sulu.

Two of the kidnap victims were beheaded on the day they were seized, while the four others were released months later allegedly upon payment of ransom.

Pajiran’s warrant of arrest was issued by Regional Trial Court Branch 266 in Pasig City.

Chief Inspector Ariel Huesca, spokesman of the Region 9 police, said government security forces tracked down Pajiran in Barangay Tictapul in Vitali district, some 70 kilometers east of this city.

Pajiran was brought to the police intelligence headquarters here and placed under tactical interrogation. He will be flown to Manila and turned over to the court before his commitment to the Bicutan jail in Taguig City. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe