Abu Sayyaf member in Dos Palmas kidnapping falls after 9 years

After nine years in hiding, a member of the Abu Sayyaf bandit group linked to the 2001 abduction of local and foreign tourists in a posh resort in Palawan was arrested in Manila, the Philippine Navy said.

In a statement, Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo said: "The long arm of the law has finally caught up with a suspected member of the dreaded terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group after hiding for nearly nine years." Arevalo identified the suspect as Jumadail Arad, known by the aliases Abu Hurayra and Asim Mangkabong Absar, the reported speedboat operator during the daring kidnapping of American missionary couple Gracia and Martin Burnham, American Guillermo Sobero and 17 Filipino tourists at the Dos Palmas Resort in Palawan on May 27, 2001. A joint team of navy intelligence operatives and elements of the Southern Police District arrested Arad at 5:15 p.m. Thursday while inside a shuttle bus at Pier 2 of the Manila North Harbor. Arad was to board a ship bound for Zamboanga City. "Arad did not resist arrest when a Navy team served arrest warrants against him," Arevalo said, adding that the arrest came after more than two months of intense surveillance. Citing intelligence reports, Arevalo said Arad was in Manila on orders of Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon to procure bullets for the bandit group. Arad is now undergoing interrogation, he added. Arad faces charges of kidnapping, serious illegal detention, murder, and frustrated murder for the Dos Palmas hostage crisis.
Three Americans and 17 Filipino tourists and workers were snatched from the posh resort. The Abu Sayyaf bandits then beheaded Sobero as a "birthday gift" to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and to show that they mean business. In June 2002, Martin Burnham died after being caught in a crossfire during a military rescue operation. His wife, Gracia, was wounded but rescued during the operation. [See: 200 kidnapped in Mindanao since 2003] - LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV