Dos Palmas kidnapping suspect nabbed in Basilan

ZAMBOANGA CITY - Combined police and military forces on Wednesday arrested in Basilan province a suspected member of the Abu Sayyaf Group tagged in the "Dos Palmas kidnapping" in 2001.

Capt. Ma. Rowena Muyuella, spokesperson of the Armed Forces' Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), said Abu Sayyaf member Kudairik Abdulla carrying the aliases of Abu Saad and Buboy was captured Wednesday about 1:30 p.m. during a joint operation of the police and military forces on Lampinigan island.

Chief Inspector Ariel Huesca, spokesman of the Police Regional Office 9 (PRO), said Abdulla is facing charges for his supposed participation in the kidnapping of 20 tourists, including American couple Gracia and Martin Burnham, from the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan in 2001.

Huesca said that based on intelligence records, Abdulla is married to the niece of Sulu-based Abu Sayyaf leader Radullan Sahiron and brother of the late Abu Sayyaf-urban terrorist group (UTG) leader Bong Abdulla.

He added that Abdulla’s father, Nasirun, is a classmate of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI)-trained Khair Mundos.