Police arrest alleged Abu Sayyaf wanted for 18-year-old abduction case
Police arrested an alleged member of the Abu Sayyaf Group wanted for an 18-year-old kidnapping and serious illegal detention case in Quezon City last Friday.
In a press briefing, Philippine National Police General Oscar Albayalde said the suspect was Abuhair Kullim Indal, 32, alias Abu Khair was arrested around 4:25 pm by the joint efforts of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU) of QCPD, PNP Intelligence Group (IG) and the Quezon City Police District at his residence located at Salam Compound, Brgy. Culiat.
“When confronted by arresting officers, Abu Khair attempted to resist arrest by running to his room to get a hand grenade but was effectively subdued before he can detonate the explosive,” said Albayalde.
He said Indal is the subject of a warrant of arrest issued in Isabela City, Basilan as a respondent in seven separate criminal cases in connection with the kidnapping of 15 workers at the Golden Harvest Plantation in Barangay Tairan, Lantawan, Basilan on June 11, 2001.
He added the suspect was a trusted aide of Abu Sayyaf leaders Furuji Indama and Nur Hassan Jamiri.
Indal was wounded in the right arm during an encounter with government security forces sometime 2001 in Kumalarang, Isabela, Basilan.
Police Brig. Gen. Joselito Esquivel Jr., Quezon City District director, said the suspect did not give any information if their group is planning to conduct violent activities in Metro Manila during the Lenten season.
“When we arrested him, we also subjected him to interview but he is not budging and we are still investigating that angle,” Esquivel said.
Esquivel said they got a report about his presence five weeks ago and they conducted one-month intelligence work for his identification where they found out about his pending warrant of arrest in Basilan
“We got wind of him about five weeks ago and then we have a month of intelligence looking into his identity until we finally verified who he was. We verified on record that he is indeed has a warrant of arrest,” he said.
“Therefore we executed the warrant of arrest without any cloud of judgement,'' he added.
Esquivel said they are still investigating how long he has been staying in the metropolis.
The QCPD chief said they did not receive any information that would lead to a conclusion that the terrorist group is in Manila.
“He is just a person of interest wanted from the law. It just happened that he is an Abu Sayyaf member” Esquivel said.
Esquivel said QCPD had an agreement with tribal and civilian leaders in the city, especially those in Culiat, that anyone who goes to that area should notify them through a designated person.
"He did not identify himself properly that's why he was reported to us and we verified him and it turned out he has a warrant of arrest and he is an Abu Sayyaf rebel," said Esquivel.
He added there are other persons in the area where he was arrested but they only conducted documentation as those people were in a separate room and not on the room he is occupying.
Esquivel said investigation is ongoing on Indal’s motive after operatives did not find any documents that will show his other plans.
“During the conduct of the search there is no document attesting that he has other plans but to hide. So as of now we are treating him as fugitive from the law who got arrested because of the warrant of arrest,” he said.
Because of the arrest of Indal, Albayalde said they are expecting retaliatory attacks.
“Actually retaliation plans, it's consistent. Our intelligence information shows and I think we always assume that they will do retaliatory acts on this kind of incidents especially that we were able to arrest someone from their ranks,” he said.
“Everytime there are arrests or encounters that they incur casualties we always assume retaliatory acts on their side,” he added. Ella Dionisio/DMS
