Malaysian paper: Abu paid P12.6M for release of Taiwanese

From the Daily Tribune (Dec 23): Malaysian paper: Abu paid P12.6M for release of Taiwanese

Again it was proven that the no-ransom payment policy of the Aquino administration on individuals taken hostages by extremist groups is merely for show as Malaysian newspapers reported yesterday that a ransom of $300,000 or P12.6 million was paid to secure the release of Taiwanese hostage Evelyn Chang An-wei who was held by Abu Sayaff gunmen in Jolo.

Philippine and Taiwan government officials maintained that the 58-year-old An-wei, who was snatched by Filipino gunmen from Pom Pom island in Semporna on Nov 15, was rescued but the ransom payment was widely talked about in the Taiwanese media, according to Asia One Malaysia.

The newspaper added that An-wei’s elder brother Richard Chang Ta Kong did not dispute media reports on the ransom payment only adding that his sister was not abused during her captivity and that the kidnappers were only after money.

Ta Kong, who was communicating with the kidnappers during her 36-days of captivity, did not speak directly about the alleged ransom payment made by the family to the Abu Sayyaf abductors. An Wei’s 57-year-old husband Lim Min-hu was gunned down when he resisted after the Abu Sayyaf attempted to grab him during the kidnapping.

An-wei was left alone outside a forest area near Jolo’s Talipoa village when a Philippines joint task force found her at 4pm last Friday following a “tip off’’.

Philippines officials familiar with the kidnap for ransom operations explained that the Abu Sayaff groups usually released their captives once the agreed amount was sent in through intermediaries, according to the Malaysian newspaper.

The Abu Sayyaf would not call the payments as ransom but a boad and lodging fee and charges for “operational expenses’’ for the intermediaries.

An-wei returned to Taiwan yesterday afternoon after being released by her captors.
She was accompanied by her brother Chang Ta-kong and Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) agents when she arrived at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport from Manila, according to the Taipei Times.

Television footage showed her dressed in a loose T-shirt and wearing sunglasses, walking to a minibus parked at the airport, waving briefly to the media and giving a thumbs-up sign, the newspaper reported. She was subsequently transported to the National Taiwan University Hospital for medical checkups, it added.

“I just want to say I deeply appreciate the Philippine military for giving me such a big help and assistance to rescue me. Thank you very much,” Chang An-wei was quoted as saying in a video report aired yesterday on several Taiwanese TV news channels.

Chang Ta-kong thanked the Philippine National Police’s Anti-Kidnapping Group for helping him to communicate with the kidnappers and his sister during her captivity.

He also expressed gratitude to the CIB, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Malaysian and Philippine police authorities for their work in the rescue mission.

While CIB Commissioner Lin Teh-hua confirmed at the press conference that the kidnappers were a group of Abu Sayyaf rebels — a militant Islamist separatist group based in and around the southern Philippines — both he and Chang Ta-kong declined to reveal details about the rescue operation and the ransom negotiations out of concern for the safety of people involved in the mission.

Abu Sayyaf, which receives funding from al-Qaeda in the past, is a notorious bandit group which earns its reputation for high-profile kidnapping operations.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/malaysian-paper-abu-paid-p12-6m-for-release-of-taiwanese