Sayyaf militant arrested in Zamboanga City

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 16, 2009) – Security forces have arrested an Abu Sayyaf militant in the southern Philippines port city of Zamboanga, officials said on Wednesday.

Major Ramon David Hontiveros, a spokesman for the military’s Western Mindanao Command, said a joint team of soldiers and policemen arrested Almujahid Susukan on charges of kidnappings.

“An AFP-PNP (Armed Forces of the Philippines-Philippine National Police) team recently arrested Almujahid Susukan in Zamboanga City by virtue of warrants of arrest for 21 counts of kidnappings and serious illegal detention,” Hontiveros said.

He did not say when the arrest took place or give details of the operation in Zamboanga City, but the ABS-CBN television reported that Susukan was nabbed by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group at the local port on September 9.

It said Susukan, a sub-leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, is the brother of Jawawi and Mujiv Susukan, both militants who were killed in separate military offensive in Sulu province the past years.

Susukan was implicated in the kidnappings of 21 Asian and European holidaymakers from the Malaysian island-resort of Sipadan in 2000.

The report said Susukan was a former Moro rebel who later joined the army, but later deserted his unit and joined the Abu Sayyaf. He was previously arrested by the military in Sulu province, however, it was unclear whether Susukan had been freed or escaped or working with the armed forces as a spy.

Many of arrested Abu Sayyaf had been used by the military as a spy, often working for bounties offered by the Philippine and US governments for the capture of known militant leaders in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)

Police Arrest Ex-Cop Implicated In Two Zamboanga Murders

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 07 Aug) – Police arrested an ex-cop, who was tagged as one of the suspects in the murder of a state auditor in Zamboanga City last year, officials said.

Officials said Arthur Gomez was arrested by a combined police and military forces at his hideout in Makati City over the weekend and brought to Zamboanga City on Tuesday.

Gomez was implicated in the murder of Vilma Eguias, of the Commission on Audit in August 2007. Eguias was driving her jeep to work when ambushed by motorcycle gunmen in Tetuan village.

Police later arrested one of the suspects, Eduardo Tan, who pointed Gomez and Dr Enrie Caraecle, president of the State College Marines Sciences and Technology in Zamboanga City, as the alleged masterminds.

Caraecle also went into hiding after being linked to the killing. Eguias was investigating anomalies in school involving Caraecle when she was murdered.

Gomez was also accused of murdering his own wife weeks after the killing of Eguias at his hideout in Zamboanga province before escaping to Manila. (Erico Rosco)

Police File Charges Vs Grenade Thrower In Southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 16, 2008) – Philippine police filed criminal charges against a man linked to a grenade attack that killed three people in the southern province of Compostela Valley.

Police tagged Joel Avila, a tricycle driver, as behind the July 3 attack that also wounded 12 people in Nabunturan town. It said witnesses positively identified Avila as the attacker.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group said it filed criminal charges on Tuesday, but Avila remains at-large and that policemen were tracking him down. It said the attack was connected to a quarrel between two groups of tricycle drivers operating in the town.

The Philippine military earlier implicated the New People’s Army rebels as behind the grenade attack. “It was the handiwork of the New People's Army rebels,” Captain Michael Aquino, of the 10th Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner. "We have reports saying that the attack targeted the 'habal-habal' drivers in the area because the NPA suspected them as government spies."

Rigoberto Sanchez, a rebel spokesman, denied involvement of the NPA in the blast. “There is no tinge of truth to this. The enemy is just manufacturing stories to divert attention from the successive and successful tactical offensives by the NPA. The revolutionary forces condemn this criminal attack against civilians,” he said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

The NPA is fighting the past four decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. Rebel leaders broke off peace talk with the Arroyo government in 2004 after accusing Manila of reneging on its commitment to free all political prisoners and to put a stop to political killings, among others. (Romy Bwaga)