By Aaron Recuenco
Gunmen holding two policewomen captives in the jungles of Sulu freed one of the two male civilians they took along with the lady cops more than two weeks after the kidnapping.
Newly appointed head of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group (PNP-DEG) Sr Supt Graciano Mijares
(Mark Balmores / MANILA BULLETIN)
Chief Supt. Graciano Mijares, director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) regional police, said the civilian, Faizal Ahidji Hambali, was let go at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
“Hambali disclosed that the kidnappers released him somewhere in a forested area of Daan Puti, Brgy Bangkal, Patikul, Sulu. He was blind folded and instructed to drop on the ground until he noticed that his kidnappers had already left him alone,” said Mijares, narrating the testimony given by the victim to the police.
“He immediately left the area and proceeded to the house of his grandmother and at the above mentioned time, his family brought him to Joint Task Force Sulu Headquarters,” Mijares added.
Hambali was among the four persons forcibly taken by armed men on April 29 in Barangay Liang, Patikul, Sulu. The three others remain under the clutches of their abductors.
They were identified as PO3 Benierose Alvarez and PO1 Dinah Gumahad; both assigned to the Zamboanga Peninsula regional police; and Hambalis' civilian companion, Jackosalem Blas.
Hamabli told the police that his kidnappers consisted of more or less 12 fully armed men.
The kidnappers earlier asked for P5 million in exchange for the release of the two female cops. (Aaron Recuenco)