Sayyaf with P600k bounty jailed in Zambo

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - A captured Abu Sayyaf mid-level leader carrying a P600,000-bounty reward and who was  tagged in the Lamitan siege in Basilan, has been committed to the city jail.

Abu Sayyaf suspect Edwin Sawaldi alias Nur Hassan was captured by the joint military and police intelligence unit and anti-terror Task Force Zamboanga (TFZ) early Wednesday night inside the city port area, said Col. Andrelino Colina, TFZ chief.

The suspect, who was immediately brought to the police intelligence headquarters, has two pending warrants of arrests with 12 cases of kidnapping with serious illegal detention and ransom issued by judges Leo Jay  Prinicipe of and Danilo  Bucoy, respectively of branch 1 and 2 of Regional Trial Courts in Isabela City, Basilan.

Colina said the charges against Sawaldi stemmed from his participation in the Lamitan siege during the Dos Palmas kidnapping when the Abu Sayyaf group led by the late Khadaffy Janjalani and Aldam Tilao alias Abu Sabaya encamped at St. Peter’s Church and its adjacent hospital with their  20 hostages, including three Americans on May 29, 2001.

Police investigation also tagged Sawaldi in the attack of a plantation in Barangay Tairan in Lantawan town at the height of the Dos Palmas kidnapping to delay the pursuing troops.

Senior Inspector Dahlan Samuddin, Police Regional Office 9 (PRO) information officer, said  that after the tactical interrogation Sawaldi was committed to the Zamboanga City Reformatory Center Friday.