Three fugitive suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) who are wanted over charges for the kidnapping of members of a religious group in Patikul, Sulu have been arrested in Metro Manila during a series of operations conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
NBI Officer-In-Charge Eric Distor on Wednesday, July 29, identified those arrested as Saudi Ausad, Ajvier Kuhutan, and Ajvier’s older brother Adzmi Kuhutan.
Distor said all three are among suspected ASG members who were issued arrest warrants by the Taguig City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 271 where they are facing six counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention with ransom.
Distor said the three suspected ASG members were arrested by the NBI’s Counter-Terrorism Division (NBI-CTD) in coordination with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
The NBI chief said in a statement “the successful operations were based on the intelligence reports from the NBI-CTD in connection with sightings of alleged ASG members in Metro Manila who were involved in the kidnapping of 6 members of a Christian religious sect in Patikul, Sulu on August 20, 2002.”
Ausad was the first to be arrested last July 17 along Sultan Kudarat St. in Maharlika, Taguig CIty after a witness positively identified him as among those involved in the abduction.
This was followed by the arrest of Ajvier on July 20 along Craig St. in Sampaloc, Manila after being identified again by a witness.
The following day, Adzmi and other family members went to the NBI-CTD to ask why Ajvier was arrested.
The NBI-CTD found that Adzmi, who identified himself as the older brother of Ajvier during the visit, was also found to be among those charged in the kidnapping case and immediately arrested him.
The NBI said the three are “now under the custody of the NBI are awaiting transfer to the Special Intensive Care Area (SICA), BJMP in Taguig City.”