Ex-cop who helped Abu Sayyaf kidnap Aussie in 2011 arrested

A FORMER policeman was arrested in Malaysia over the weekend for helping the Abu Sayyaf in the abduction of an Australian national in 2011.

Former senior police officer 2 Jun Malban was initially taken into custody in Kota Kinabalu last month for violation of immigration laws but it was only last weekend that Philippine authorities arrested him.

Senior Supt. Roberto Fajardo, chief of the Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG), said the former lawman served as the negotiator when Australian national Warren Rodwell was abducted in December 2011.

“He was held in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, for illegal entry. We served the arrest warrant on him when we got there,” said the police official in a press briefing in Camp Crame on Monday.

Malban is a wanted fugitive based on an arrest warrant issued by Judge Josefino Bael of the Regional Trial Court Branch 24 in Ipil, Zamboanga, Sibugay, for the crime of kidnapping for ransom.

The policeman used to be assigned to the Police Security and Protection Group in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and became absent without official leave shortly after the victim was released.

After his release, Rodwell identified Malban as the negotiator and spokesperson of the Abu Sayyaf group during his captivity from December 2011 to March 2013.

At that time, the ex-policeman used the alias Michael Soo or Zue when dealing with authorities and the victim’s family. Rodwell was released on March 23, 2013.

According to Fajardo, Malban is the cousin of Abu Sayyaf leaders Khair Mundos, who was arrested in 2014, and Borhan Mundos.

The policeman went into hiding until he was apprehended in Malaysia last April 28 in Lahad Datu, Sabah, for violation of immigration laws.

“He was arrested there and he was almost released if not for our coordination with our Malaysian counterparts and the Interpol,” Fajardo said.

The AKG and the National Bureau of Investigation went to Kota Kinabalu last May 15 where they served the arrest warrant on Malban.

Fajardo added that at the time of arrest, Malban was with his Canadian wife, Megan Collins, whom he married in April 2013 in Cotabato City.

Collins is also in the country and is in the NBI’s custody, according to the PNP, while Malban is detained at the AKG awaiting a commitment order from the court.