Starving Abu Sayyaf suspect held in Bohol named

Suspected Abu Sayyaf man Saad Samad Kimir, alyas Abu Saad, was arrested in Tubigon, Bohol, on May 4, 2017. A .45-gun, two magazines and a cellphone were seized from Saad. (Photo contributed to the Inquirer Visayas)

Update

TUBIGON, Bohol — An alleged Abu Sayyaf member identified as Abu Saad was arrested on Thursday morning in Barangay Tanawan here.

A police source said Saad, also known as Saad Samad Kimir, was found by residents at around 7 a.m., while he was asking for food.

While Saad was eating, residents reported his presence in the barangay (village) to the village chairman and watchman. The village chief immediately alerted the nearest Philippine Army detachment in the area.

Saad didn’t resist arrest when Army soldiers came to take him, the police said.

The police source gave the Philippine Daily Inquirer two photographs of Saad and revealed that a .45-gun, two magazines and a cellphone were confiscated from him.

The police source said that while being interrogated at Camp Bernido,  Saad in effect admitted that he was among the suspected Abu Sayyaf men that infiltrated Bohol when he said that he no longer knew what happened to his companions since being separated from them last Saturday after the Clarin clash.

Two other Abu Sayyaf suspects are still at large and being hunted by the Army.

“Niwang kaayo (very thin),” the police source said of Saad.

Tanawan is seven kilometers from the Tubigon town proper and nearby Clarin town where four Abu Sayyaf members, including sub-leader Joselito Melloria, were killed last Saturday.

Suspected Abu Sayyaf member Abu Saad, also known as Saad Samad Kimir, is arrested in Tubigon, Bohol, on May 4, 2017.
A .45-gun, two magazines and a cellphone were seized from Saad. (Photo contributed to the Inquirer Visayas)

Earlier, PO2 Ronald Manlangit, desk officer of the Tubigon Police Station said that two armed men suspected as remnants of the Abu Sayyaf — not only one — were arrested on Thursday morning.

READ:  2 suspected Abu Sayyaf ‘remnants’ held in Bohol

Manlangit said that the two were sighted at around 5 a.m. on Thursday, in Barangay Tan-awan in this town searching for food.  Undercover military men and barangay tanod (village watchmen)
reportedly arrested the men.

“It’s subject for verification if they are Abu Sayyaf members,” said Manlangit had said.

At 10 a.m., the armed men were brought to Camp Francisco Dagohoy in Tagbilaran for verification, said Manlangit.

The police source who provided information on Saad did not say anything about the other suspect that Manlangit cited.  SFM/rga

Map of Bohol. Take note that Inabanga, Clarin and Tubigon are just beside each other. (Map from the official website of Trinidad, Bohol at https://trinidad-bohol.gov.ph/territory-of-trinidad-its-descriptions-and-composition/bohol-map/ )