MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) The Abu Sayyaf has resorted to “narco-terrorism” and small-time kidnapping in an attempt to raise funds for their operations, a military spokesman said Wednesday.

This was evident when a joint operation of the Philippine Marines and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) raided a marijuana plantation believed to be either owned or protected by the al Qaeda- linked rebel group in Maimbung, Sulu last November 8, said Lieutenant Colonel Edgard Arevalo of the Philippine Navy.

The marines and the PDEA recovered some P2 million worth of eight-feet tall marijuana plants and 2,000 seedlings from the 1.5 hectare land located at a known Abu Sayyaf lair, Arevalo told a weekly forum at the Ciudad Fernandina in Greenhills.

Most of these plants were uprooted and then burned while two more truck-loads were taken to the PDEA headquarters as evidence, Arevalo said.

The November 8 incursion was the third raid by the Marines and PDEA in Sulu. The first was last May 22 when a two-hectare marijuana plantation was found also in the town of Maimbung; the second was last June 26 when a 1.5-hectare narcotics farm was discovered in the town of Talipao also in Sulu, Arevalo said.

All in all, PDEA and the Marines have recovered some P7 million worth of marijuana plants from all three plantations, Arevalo said.

The plantations were believed to be under the protection of the Abu Sayyaf because the locations of these lands were known territories of the Muslim extremist group.

The discover of the marijuana plantations in Abu Sayyaf territory bolstered suspicion by the military that the Muslim rebels were involved in “narco-terrorism” and were using funds raised from these plantations to fund their activities, Arevalo said.

“This is an indicator that either the Abu Sayyaf Group members are running out of funds or [they] are forced to resort to other unscrupulous means of obtaining their finances,” Arevalo said.

He added that although there seemed to be a concentration of marijuana plantations in Sulu, the military and PDEA were not discounting the possibility that there might be similar farms found in other Abu Sayyaf areas.

“This is where we need the help of civilians because if they will give information, they will pinpoint to us the locations, we might not only identify Abu Sayyaf lairs but we might also catch the owners, caretakers or protectors of these lands,” said Arevalo.

Aside from the marijuana plants, the group might also be extorting money from local businesses in Sulu, Arevalo said.

He also said that the Abu Sayyaf has resorted to abducting regular civilians, students, and even humanitarian volunteers, Arevalo said.

"This means that even those people who are not moneyed, who are not influential, are being kidnapped so this is another indication that they are in dire need of funds,” Arevalo said.

“The Abu Sayyaf kidnaps them even if they’re small time. The rebels are beginning to find it difficult,” said Arevalo in Filipino.

Precious Feliciano, a nurse kidnapped in Manicahan last July 7, was freed on November 8 after ransom was paid.

The Feliciano family admitted to giving the kidnappers P1.8 million in cash in addition to unspecified number of motorbikes and M-16 rifles.

Two more kidnap victims, aid worker Merlie “Milet” Mendoza, and Joed Pilangga, a student at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University, have remained captives of the Abu Sayyaf.