Feature: Army helps secure transport of captured crocodile in Sulu to Zamboanga City

From the Philippine News Agency (Dec 14): Feature: Army helps secure transport of captured crocodile in Sulu to Zamboanga City 

Although government forces have their hands full chasing remnants of the terrorists Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in the jungles of Sulu, soldiers are also engaged in civic action work, the latest of which was securing the safe transport of a captured seven-foot long salt crocodile to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regional office in Zamboanga City.

Col. Alan Arrojado, commander of the Zamboanga-Basilan-Sulu-Tawi-Tawi Task Group of the Western Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, told the Philippines News Agency in a phone interview Sunday that the transfer was a light moment or sidelight of his unit’s intensified combat operations against the Abu Sayyaf.

The salt crocodile was captured by Muslim fishermen in Sitio Sibigtingi, Barangay Simbahan in Pangutaran, Sulu last Nov. 21.

The fishermen brought the mammal to the police station for safekeeping, according to Maj. Edil Aramponi, public affairs officer of Joint Task Force Sulu.

In turn, the police informed the DENR about the capture of the salt crocodile.

It was only over the weekend that the DENR in Sulu asked the help of the Joint Task Force to secure the crocodile while being transported to Zamboanga City.

The ongoing military operations on the island of Sulu have forced the Abu Sayyaf terrorists to be on the run all the time.

It had also resulted in the escape last week of Swiss national Lorenzo Vinciguerra, who was held captive by the Abu Sayyaf for over two years in Sulu.

Vinciguerra dashed to freedom after he killed his lone guard in a hand-to-hand combat at the height of the simultaneous ground and air assault by government forces.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=10&sid=&nid=10&rid=716116