Sayyafs free Indon hostage

From the Mindanao Examiner (Jan 16, 2019): Sayyafs free Indon hostage

SULU – Abu Sayyaf militants have freed an Indonesian fishing crew member after more than 4 months in captivity in southern Philippines, reports said Wednesday.

It said the 40-year old Samsul Sanguni was released in a remote village in Sulu, one of 5 provinces under the Muslim autonomous region. It was not immediately known who negotiated for his freedom and how much ransom was paid to the Abu Sayyaf in exchange for his life.
Malaysian media earlier reported that the Abu Sayyaf had demanded P20 million from Sanguni’s employer and militants threatened to kill him if ransom is not paid. In a video sent by militants to his family, Sanguni appealed to his employer to save him from death. The clip shows Sanguni – both hands tied behind his back – inside a freshly dug hole in a forested area and guarded by heavily armed militants as he cried and pleaded for help.

There was no immediate statement from the police or militar in the Philippines on the release of Sanguni.

Sanguni along with another Indonesian fisherman, Usman Yusuf, were kidnapped at sea near Gaya Island in Sabah’s Semporna town and brought to Sulu. The 35-year old Yusuf was freed in December in Bual village in the town of Luuk. The release of Yusuf came after the Chief of the Indonesian Consul-General’s Office in Sabah, Sulistijo Djati Ismojo, appealed to Malaysia to resolve the kidnapping of its citizens.

It was unknown whether ransom had been paid to the kidnappers in exchange for Yusuf’s release. In September, the Abu Sayyaf had previously released four Indonesian hostages to Nur Misuari, chieftain of the former rebel group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and his wife Tarhata; and a former Indonesian army general Kivlan Zein.

But despite the anti-terror campaign in Sabah, Abu Sayyaf militants still managed to kidnap three more Indonesian fishing crew members off Sabah and had been taken to Sulu, Malaysian media reported. It said the trio – Heri Ardiansyah, 19; Jari Abdullah, and Hariadin, 45, were working for a fishing company in Sandakan town and had been seized by 7 gunmen on the night of December 5 near Pegasus Reef – an area where four armed men also attacked a tugboat two days later and wounded an Indonesian crew in what police said was a failed abduction.

Sabah police, citing intelligence sources, said identified the kidnappers as Abu Sayyaf commanders Al Mujir Yadah and Hajan Sawadjaan, who teamed up with another militant commander, Indang Susukan. The group was tagged as behind the spate of ransom kidnappings in the waters of Sabah and attacks on fishing boats there.

The militants have been targeting Indonesian fishermen because their employers and Jakarta are paying ransoms to the Abu Sayyaf which it uses to purchase weapons, recruit members and to finance kidnappings and terror attacks in the country. The Abu Sayyaf is still holding nearly a dozen foreign and local hostages in the restive region.

https://mindanaoexaminer.com/sayyafs-free-indon-hostage/