Security forces capture 2 kidnappers in Zamboanga province

From the Mindanao Examiner (Apr 17): Security forces capture 2 kidnappers in Zamboanga province

Police and military authorities have arrested two notorious kidnappers in a raid on a village in Zamboanga Sibugay’s Payao town, officials said on Friday.

Officials said the two men – Bandong Wahab and Omma Jain – were being interrogated following their capture during a joint operation by the army and policemen.

Captain Maria Rowena Muyuela, a spokeswoman for the Western Mindanao Command, quoting a report from the 1^st Infantry Division, said both Wahab and Jain belong to the Aburi-Sabtal gang operating in the province, some 120 kilometers east of Zamboanga City.

The two men were also included in the police most wanted list for numerous kidnapping and murder charges against them. Their capture came following a long surveillance operation by the military and police, Muyuela said.

She said just recently, soldiers and policemen also captured Muin Biang, one of the most wanted criminals in Zamboanga Sibugay, and a notorious member of another kidnapping gang in the province.

Muyuela, quoting Western Mindanao Command chief General Rustico Guerrero, said: “Significantly, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police have eliminated three names from the most wanted watch-list, indicating a notable result of the joint military-police operations in the province.”

“The joint law enforcement operations are in alignment with the AFP’s mission to establish an environment “conducive to development” thru inter-agency collaboration. The AFP and PNP continue to conduct joint operations to expedite arrest of lawless elements operating in Zamboanga Peninsula,” Guerrero added.

Muyuela did not say if those arrested were behind the recent kidnappings of two children and Mayor Gemma Adana, of Naga town, in Zamboanga Sibugay, whom police initially claimed were mostly former members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

http://mindanaoexaminer.com/security-forces-capture-2-kidnappers-in-zamboanga-province-2/