COTABATO CITY, Philippines -- The Moro Islamic Liberation Front has admitted that it had in its custody a suspected leader of the Pentagon gang whom police had earlier accused of being behind several kidnappings here.

Eid Kabalu, MILF civil-military affairs chief, on Friday said the rebel group took custody of Mohaimen Abo, a former disc jockey at an FM station here.

Supt. Willy Dangane, Cotabato police chief, said Abo was positively identified by the two suspects arrested by police in connection with the recent kidnapping of a four-year-son of a Filipino-Chinese trader.

Dangane said Abo heads a Pentagon faction that counts as members some employees of the Land Transportation Office in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Kabalu said the suspect is a brother of a key MILF leader.

He said this was one reason the MILF started an investigation into Abo's alleged involvement in kidnappings in the city and nearby areas, including last month's abduction of a vacationing mainland Chinese national in Kabacan, North Cotabato.

He said another reason the MILF decided to step in and take Abo under its custody was the fact that the police recovered military uniforms with MILF insignia from his gang's hideout during a raid. He said it created an impression that the MILF was behind the abductions.

Kabalu did not say how long the investigation would last and what the MILF would do if Abo was found found guilty as charged.

In the past, the MILF executed by firing squad several men found guilty of various offenses by a Sharia court the rebel group runs.

Before the MILF's Camp Abubakar in Maguindanao fell during the government's all out offensive in 2000, its jail there had about 20 inmates awaiting sentencing.

Kabalu said there would be no whitewash in the MILF investigation even if Abo was related to an MILF leader.