THE Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) tried but failed to kidnap anew crewmen of foreign cargo vessel in the high seas of the southern Philippines.
Rear Admiral Rene Medina, commander of the Naval Forces Western Mindanao (NFWM), on Friday, February 24, said the naval component of the Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi thwarted the kidnapping attempt by the ASG in the waters of Tawi-Tawi province.
Medina said the attempt was prevented as Navy ships were immediately deployed in response to a distress call from a Panamanian-flag carrier, M/V Dong Hae Star, at 10 a.m. Wednesday, February 22.
Medina said the M/V Dong Hae Star, reported to the Littoral Monitoring Station (LMS) in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, that suspicious black speedboats with five persons each on board were pursuing them in the sea waters off Pearl Bank, Tawi-Tawi.
He said the Panamanian-flag vessel, at the time it transmitted the distress call, was transiting in the Sulu Sea from China to Indonesia.
He said the M/V Dong Hae Star transmitted a radio message that the speedboats stopped from chasing them and maneuvered to the open sea upon sighting the responding Navy ships.
The NFWM has deployed additional vessels to the Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi and Sulu for maritime interdiction and to support the law enforcement operations in the area.
Medina said the LMS in Bongao continue to monitor vessels transiting in Tawi-Tawi as well as continue to patrol the area to ensure safe passage.
The ASG is still holding captive 33 people, including 27 foreigners and six Filipinos, who were separately seized.
The hostages included the following: 12 Vietnamese; seven Indonesians; five Malaysians; six Filipinos; a Dutch; a German; and a Korean. Most of the foreign hostages were seized by the ASG aboard foreign vessels transiting the Sulu sea.
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