ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines -- The hired driver of television reporter Ces Drilon and her crew has claimed to police that a known "military agent" and not members of the Abu Sayyaf extremist group abducted the ABS-CBN team, the Sulu police chief said Thursday.

Senior Superintendent Julasirim Kasim, Sulu police director, said driver Maramma Hasim, the man hired by Drilon and her team to chauffer for them in Maimbung on the day of their disappearance, claimed that one Juamil "Maming" Biyaw was the "missing link" to knowing who was behind the abduction.

Biyaw, a resident of the village of Sandah in Patikul town, is known in Sulu as a military agent, Kasim said.

Kasim said Hashim, who is now in police custody, claimed Biyaw was with the group Sunday when Drilon, cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, and their guide, Mindanao State University Professor Octavio Dinampong went to Maimbung.

They went missing after an armed group reportedly intercepted them along Kulasi, town of Maimbung while on their way to meet Abu Sayyaf leaders “to cover a special event.”

Quoting Hashim, Kasim said Biyaw ordered the driver to stop somewhere in the village of Labbah at around noon Sunday.

"The passengers, including Madame Ces, thought there was problem with the car,” Kasim quoted Hashim's account.

"All the passengers casually went down from the vehicle and this Biyaw guy invited the four to join him in a walk towards Mount Mabusing (interior of Labbah). So there was no scuffle. Madame Ces and the rest walked casually," Kasim added.

Hashim was reportedly surprised when the five left him on the highway.

"But he waited until 4 p.m. and this Biyaw returned alone instructing the driver to leave the place. The driver, apparently disturbed, followed the orders," Kasim added.

"Because of fear, the driver didn’t even show up readily and he is now in our custody. Right now, we are looking for this Biyaw and we are checking further his background and how close he is with the military as he being reported as an agent," Kasim said.

But Kasim admitted he was "a bit confused" by the different information he has been receiving the past days.

"He (Hashim) gave information that runs counter to what our Maimbung police earlier supplied," he said.

"It was my Maimbung police chief (Inspector Abdulsamad Mañalas) who said that, and I admit it might have been a presumption since the incident took place where Gafur Jumdail's group operates," he said.

But Maimbung Mayor Najib Maldisa said Mañalas had denied giving the identities of the kidnappers prior to confirmation from the ABS-CBN executives.

"It’s a good thing we did some of our homework. That is why I was a bit hesitant in blaming anyone especially if I didn't see them with my own eyes or receive any information direct from these bandits," the mayor said.

But as far as Kasim was concerned, the police are now looking at other groups.

"But I will not say anything at this moment. I just let Hashim's affidavit speak for what is the latest development," he said.

Maldisa, on the other hand, said Biyaw "is closely associated with some Marines in the brigade."

Abdulwahid Basaluddin, chair of the Anak Sug Professionals in Sulu, said Biyaw, aside from being a former MNLF member, was a "conflict mediator like Professor Octavio (Dinampo), although Biyaw has more access to military than Dinampo," the Mindanao State University professor who was acting as Drilon’s guide.

Maldisa admitted to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net, that he was also confused by the turn of events.

"Yesterday, the Abu Sayyaf, and now they’re saying it’s not the Abu Sayyaf,” Maldisa said.

The mayor said the police should immediately get Biyaw "because he is the key to knowing who is behind the abduction."

“If they’re not being held by the Abu Sayyaf, and the MNLF doesn’t know anything about their disappearance, then another group could have seized them,” he said.

Maldisa said he had been doing his own investigation, asking MNLF commanders, "but all them say they know nothing. Some, especially those in the hinterlands, were even surprised to know that there was a kidnapping."

Even the Abu Sayyaf men earlier tagged as being behind the kidnapping were surprised.

A former MNLF sub-commander now employed with a town mayor said both Abu Sayyaf leaders Albader Parad and Gafur Jumdail denied having a hand in the kidnapping.

He said he had dispatched several people, upon instructions of the mayor, to enter Parad's camp in Indanan town and Jumdail's lair in Maimbung, and "these bandits were all shocked about the report."

"When my people went inside, especially in the camp of Parad, and they chanced upon them sipping coffee, they (Parad and his group) were all shocked to learn that Drilon was kidnapped," he said, adding that his men even checked the inner bunkers to make sure none was being hidden inside.

At Jumdail's camp, situated between the villages of Kulasi and Labbah, the source said his men also came out empty handed.

But Lieutenant General Nelson Allaga, chief of the military's Western Mindanao Command, dismissed the information as "pure speculation."

"We assure everyone that efforts are ongoing for the safe recovery of the ABS-CBN crew, so any speculation will certainly jeopardize these efforts."

Allaga said he did not want to speak or react to the reported participation of the alleged military agent.

"I don't want to say anything so as not to confuse everyone," he said.

Allaga said Task Force Comet chief Brigadier General Juancho Sabban and PNP ARMM Regional Director Joel Goltiao were going to Sulu Thursday afternoon to supervise the military operation to secure the captives.

Asked about what type of military operations he was referring to, Allaga replied: "It will have nothing to do with artillery fire or heavy troops. Negotiation is also a form of military operation."