ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 16, 2008) – Suspected Abu Sayyaf militants have freed a kidnapped Muslim school principal, but are still holding a Chinese trader in the southern island of Sulu, police said Tuesday.
Police said the kidnappers released Kasim Pakkam late Monday in the village of Lanao Dakula in Parang town.
Pakkam, kidnapped on Dec. 12, was earlier identified by the police and military as Pakkam Hashim, the principal of Parang’s Kutah Sairap Elementary School.
Police said no ransom was paid for the safe release of Pakkam. It said the kidnapping was connected to family feud, but police could not say why the Abu Sayyaf had been dragged into the quarrel.
“Pakkam has been freed unharmed. He is okay and reunited with his family. We are still tracking down the other Chinese hostage, Xili Wu, who is still in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf,” Senior Supt. Julasirim Kasim, the Sulu police chief, told the Mindanao Examiner.
Abu Sayyaf militants kidnapped a Wu as he was closing his electronics store in Jolo town at around 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Unconfirmed reports said the kidnappers were demanding P10 million ransoms for Wu’s freedom, Kasim said, adding, the mayor of Jolo, Hussin Amin, has convened the crisis management committee, to tackle the kidnapping of the foreigner, who is a native of Fujian province in China.
Police said the 28-year old Wu was using the alias of Peter Go, who is staying in Jolo with four other Chinese nationals since December last year. Wu co-owns the Perlas Trading in downtown Jolo.
Authorities implicated Abu Sayyaf leader Albader Parad as behind Wu’s kidnapping.
Kasim said about four kidnappers; all clad in camouflage uniform and armed with automatic weapons, seized Wu after disarming his private security guards and dragged him to a waiting van in front of horrified civilians. Chief Inspector Usman Pingay, the Jolo police chief, said they are investigating how the foreigners were able to put up a business in Jolo.
The Abu Sayyaf group has been linked to the spate of kidnappings and bomb attacks in the Philippines and is labeled a terrorist organization by both Manila and Washington, and is believed by the US to have links with the al-Qaeda terror network and Jemaah Islamiya.
The Philippine government, aided by the US military, has deployed thousands of troops in the south in an effort to eradicate Abu Sayyaf. (Mindanao Examiner)
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