A member of the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) who was among the suspects in the 2001 kidnapping of Gracia and Martin Burnham and Guillermo Sobero at the Dos Palmas Resort in Palawan was arrested late Thursday afternoon at North Harbor in Manila.
Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo, Navy spokesman, identified the suspect as Jumadail Arad, who uses the aliases "Abu Hurayra" and "Asim Mangkabong Absar" who is said to be the operator of the speedboat used during the May 27, 2001, abduction of Subero and the Burnham couple.
Information released by the Navy showed the suspect was arrested at around 5:15 p.m. Thursday by a joint team of Navy intelligence operatives and the Southern Police District (SPD) at the gate of Pier 2, North Harbor, Manila.
Arad was arrested by virtue of a warrant of arrest issued against him for the crimes of kidnapping and serious illegal detention, murder, and frustrated murder.
Arevalo said the suspect was on board a shuttle bus provided by the shipping company from Muntinlupa City where he reportedly resides and which brought him to the North Harbor where he was to board a ship bound for Zamboanga City when he was arrested by the joint team of Navy and SPD personnel.
The suspect initially denied his identity when he was accosted by the lawmen but later on submitted himself to the arresting authorities when he was presented with his photographs attached to his arrest warrant.
Arevalo said the suspect has been under surveillance by the naval intelligence for more than two months prior to his arrest.
Maj. Gen. Juancho Sabban, Philippine Marine Corps commandant, in his report to Vice Admiral Ferdinand Golez, Navy Flag Officer-in-Command (FOIC), said Arad has been in hiding since 2001.
Sabban said in his report that Arad laid low after Aldam Tilao also known as Abu Sabaya, Hamsiraji Sali, and Khadaffy Janjalani - leaders of the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group - were neutralized separately during fierce encounters with the security forces led by the Marines.
The Navy official said Arad believed that he has already eluded arrest after a lapse of more than nine years that he was just moving around Metro Manila and Mindanao unabated and undisturbed by lawmen.
Arad, a native of Patikul, Sulu was reportedly on an errand for ASG leader Isnilon Hapilon to buy ammunition when arrested.
He is presently under the custody of the Philippine National Police.
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