Army links ex-MILF commander to kidnap of 2 Chinese

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – A former Moro rebel commander who was the object of a military manhunt in the Zamboanga peninsula last year was behind Monday’s abduction of the two Chinese businessmen in Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay, the Army said Wednesday.

Captain Albert Caber, spokesperson of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division, told a local radio station here that intelligence reports gathered by the military pointed to Waning Abdusalam as leader of the group that snatched Jampong Lin-Yuankai, 38, and Jian Luo, 48, both natives of Guandong, China.

He said the authorities were still trying to ascertain where the two foreigners were being held.

The two foreigners were engaged in the trading of manganese and copper ores and had been staying in the town of Kabasalan since last year.

They were abducted by six armed men who presented themselves as agents of the National Bureau of Investigation, according to the police.

Kabasalan Mayor George Cainglet told the Inquirer that the armed men barged into the victims’ apartment, located just a few meters from the town hall, around 8 p.m. Monday. The men, he said, introduced themselves as NBI agents.

The police said the abductors’ getaway vehicle, a white van, was found abandoned in another village in Kabasalan.

Caber described Abdusalam as a former leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Von Al Haq, MILF spokesperson, said Abdusalam was expelled from the group because of his kidnapping and extortion activities.

“He was officially removed from the organization 10 years ago as he continuously violated our policies,” Al Haq said.

Last year, the military launched a massive operation against Abdusalam and his group.

More than 30,000 people were displaced by the operation that involved bomber planes and hundreds of ground troops. Abdusalam was reported to have been injured in one of the military operations in Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay.

Al Haq said the MILF communities in the province were not protecting Abdusalam, who is also believed to have been behind the abduction of Australian Warren Rodwell last December.

With respect to Rodwell, Al Haq said they were trying to confirm a report that the Australian had died in captivity.