Police hold man accused as Sayyaf negotiator

From the Mindanao Examiner (Oct 18, 2021): Police hold man accused as Sayyaf negotiator (By Al Jacinto)

Police arrested a 30-year old man who allegedly stood as an Abu Sayyaf ransom negotiator for three kidnapped foreigners, two of them were eventually beheaded by the terrorist group in southern Philippines.



Brig. Gen. Rudolph Dimas, chief of the Philippine National Police-Anti-Kidnapping Group, said Adzrimar Sali Ammat, alias Abu Omar, was arrested in Kampo Islam in the village of Lower Calarian in Zamboanga City.

Dimas said Ammat also acted as negotiator for the Abu Sayyaf for the release of three other Filipino hostages in 2015 and 2016. He said a regional trial court in Tawi-Tawi has issued a warrant for Ammat’s arrest in September 2019.

Police linked Ammat to the kidnap-slay of Canadian nationals John Ridsdel and Robert Hall and Norwegian man Kjartan Sekingstad and Filipina Maritess Flor in the island-resort of Samal in Davao del Norte province on September 21, 2015.

Ridsdel, Chief Operating Officer of TVI Resource Development Philippines, Inc., was eventually beheaded on April 25, 2016 in Sulu province after his family failed to pay the P300 million ransom demanded by the Abu Sayyaf. Hall was also decapitated two months later while Sekingstad and Flor were freed unharmed to the Moro National Liberation Front.

Police also released a mug shot of Ammat following his capture.





Photos posted on the Facebook page of Arrested Abu Sayyaf suspect Adzrimar Ammat show his clearances issued by the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation.

But Ammat also posted on his Facebook page on October 18 a set of photos of clearances issued by the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation. He wrote: “My NBI clearance and National police clearance are true and original 100%. It’s not fake. Date issue on 25 August 2021 in Zamboanga City. A real kidnapper or terrorist cannot escape from NBI and National police clearance.”

However, Ammat did not deny the charges against him.

Last December, two other Abu Sayyaf militants Jehan Aklul and Mohammad Muslimin who were linked to the Samal kidnappings were captured by the police in their hideout not far from the Presidential Palace in San Miguel in Manila. The raiders also seized two hand grenades, a blasting cap and detonating cord from the hideout.

Three other militants Alsadi Hanain, Bennaser Pae and Ugali Alimudin involved in the kidnappings had surrendered to the military last year.

Hanain was also linked to the ransom kidnappings of Italian national Rolando del Torchio on October 7, 2014; European birdwatcher Ewold Horn who was killed in May 2019 during a firefight between militants and soldiers; and Chinese Jin Hua Chen and Yahong Chen. He was also involved in deadly attacks on security forces in the provinces of Basilan and Sulu.

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