By Martin Sadongdong
A suspected member of the Abu Sayyaf Group who has been working as a security guard in Alabang, Muntinlupa City was arrested by joint police forces, a spokesperson for the Philippine National Police (PNP) revealed Friday.
Police Colonel Bernard Banac, PNP spokesperson, identified the suspect as Aldemar Saiyari, legal age, of Soldiers Village, Putatan, Muntinlupa City.
Saiyari was still on-duty when he was nabbed by elements of the PNP-Supervisory Office for Security and Investigation Agencies (SOSIA) and Southern Police District (SPD)'s District Intelligence Division (DID) at Filinvest 3 in Muntinlupa City.
Banac said the police served a warrant of arrest against Saiyari around 6 p.m. last Wednesday for the crimes of kidnapping and serious illegal detention issued by the Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 162.
"In April 2000, members of Abu Sayyaf terrorist group seized 21 tourists from the dive resort island off Sipadan, Malaysia and brought them to Sulu where they were held hostage. Aldemar Saiyari is one of those suspects identified as involved in the kidnapping and hostage taking," Banac told reporters.
Citing a police report, Banac said Saiyari has been working as a private security guard using a fake identification card.
Blue Panthers, the private security agency where Saiyari was working, was also found to be illegally operating.
Blue Panthers continued their operations despite having an expired License to Operate since 2014, the PNP spokesman said.
Further, the security agency had been ordered by the PNP-Civil Security Group (CSG) to Cease to Operate in 2016 for its failure to renew their expired license.
Following the ban on employment of security details imposed by the Commission on Elections, Banac said that the PNP-CSG under Police Major General Reynaldo Biay and PNP-SOSIA under Police Brigadier General Noli Romana "are now conducting regional field visits and closely monitoring all private security agencies and guards nationwide to ensure their strict compliance to election rules and resolutions."
The Blue Panthers security agency is expected to be issued a notice for closure by the PNP.
Meanwhile, Saiyari was placed under the custody of the SPD-DID in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City for documentation.