Sayyaf man in 2011 kidnapping of US woman, son arrested in Zamboanga City

From the Mindanao Examiner (Sep 28): Sayyaf man in 2011 kidnapping of US woman, son arrested in Zamboanga City

Philippine authorities are holding an Abu Sayyaf rebel involved in the 2011 kidnapping of an American woman and her son in Zamboanga City.

Inspector Dahlan Samuddin, a regional police spokesman, said Wajir Arijani alias Abu Miqtad, is currently being interrogated following his capture at a hideout in Santa Catalina village here.

He said the rebel was involved in the kidnappings of Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann and son Kevin on July 2011 on their beach house in Zamboanga. “The arrest was made after a long period of pursuit and surveillance operations by the intelligence community that finally pinpointed his location,” Samuddin said.

Arijani is a member of the Abu Sayyaf group under Puruji Indama in the neighboring province of Basilan and included in the wanted list of the police.

Gerfa and her son – who were on a holiday when kidnapped – had been separately freed by rebels in Basilan after paying off the Abu Sayyaf ransom.

Lunsmann, then 41, was born to a Muslim family in Basilan and adopted by an American couple and as a child grew up in the United States where she worked as a veterinarian.

http://mindanaoexaminer.com/sayyaf-man-in-2011-kidnapping-of-us-woman-son-arrested-in-zamboanga-city/