Two suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf Group charged for their participation in the 2001 Golden Harvest kidnapping incident have been arrested by authorities in Zamboanga City.
National Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Deputy Director Ferdinand Lavin identified the two arrested men as Harub Jaljalis who is also known as Indal and Pinky Ani Hadjinulla.
Lavin said the two suspected ASG members were arrested separately last Sunday by joint operatives of the NBI’s Counter Terrorism Division and Western Mindanao Regional Office, the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Indal was arrested in a canteen in Barangay Sta. Catalina while Hadjinulla was caught at the Southway Mall.
They were both served arrest warrants issued by the Basilan Regional Trial Court where they are facing charges for multiple counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention.
“In this particular incident, the informant came out with the positive information on the whereabouts of the two,” said Lavin. “Fortunately for us and unfortunately for the two, agents of the counter-terrorism division immediately dispatched a team acting on the information and nakuha itong dalawa,” he added.
Lavin said one of the survivors of the Golden Harvest kidnapping incident positively identified two suspects as among the ASG members who abducted them.
Fifteen plantation workers were abducted by the ASG on June 11, 2001 at the Golden Harvest Plantation in Barangay Tairan, Lantawan, Basilan. The ASG beheaded five of them, while the rest either managed to escape or rescued by pursuing military forces. (Jeffrey Damicog)
