Abu Sayyaf seen in kidnap of engineer in Sulu

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The Abu Sayyaf may have played a role in Saturday’s kidnapping of engineer Carlos Tee of Jolo, Sulu, authorities said Sunday.

Colonel Jose Johriel Cenabre, deputy commander for Marines operation of the Naval Forces in Western Mindanao, said the 62-year-old Tee might have been taken to the hinterlands of Patikul, a known stronghold of Radulan Sahiron alias “Putol,” in the northeast of Jolo.

The Sulu police, however, said the reports they got indicated that Tee, an employee of the Air Transport Office, might have been taken to Barangay (village) Buansa in Indanan. Like Patikul, the Abu Sayyaf also operates in Indanan.

Tee, who also owns a gas station in downtown Jolo, was inside his house along Hadji Butu Extension in Barangay Asturias in Jolo when snatched by armed men around 8 p.m. on Saturday.

“The abductors sped off on a yellow Toyota Tamaraw,” Cenabre said.

He said as a result of the Tee kidnapping, all police and military units in Sulu had been alerted. Checkpoints and choke points were also tightened, Cenabre said.

Senior Inspector Kris Conrad Gutierrez, operations officer of the Sulu police office, said rescue operation was ongoing in Sulu, especially in Indanan, which is southwest of Jolo.