Abu Sayyaf group demands ransom for kidnapped crew

Manila: The Abu Sayyaf Group which has pledged allegiance to Daesh has demanded $1.37 million for the release of 10 Indonesian crewmen and one Taiwanese-registered coal carrying vessel that was seized in southern Philippine waters last Saturday, military and foreign affairs sources said.

Indonesian authorities informed the offices of Manila’s foreign affairs and defence departments about the owner of two vessels who received a ransom demand from a caller who identified himself as Abu Sayyaf member, said a foreign affairs source who requested for anonymity.

“Local government officials were assigned to negotiate with the Abu Sayyaf as the Philippine military and the police maintained their silence,” said the same source.

“A task force was also created for pursuit operation — to look for the 10 crewmen and a coal barge, identified as Anand 12, which carried 7,000 tonnes of coal,” said a military source who also asked not to be named.

The clue was a tugboat, identified as Brahma 12, which was recovered by Philippine security forces composed of police and military last Monday, said the same source.

The two vessels came from Sungai Puti in Indonesia’s Kalimantan (near Borneo), and were en route to Tawi-Tawi, Indonesian authorities quoted the owner of the vessels as saying, sources said.

Indonesian authorities said the owner of the two vessels learned about the hostage-taking incident on Saturday, when he received a call from one of the hostage victims, the two sources said, adding, “The kidnappers must have talked with the owner of the vessel because of that call.”

Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, spokesman of the Armed Forces, has not yet issued a public statement on the reported abduction.

The more than 20-year old Abu Sayyaf Group is still holding several foreigners in their lairs in the south. It has been blamed for high profile kidnap-for-ransom incidents since the 1990s, including beheadings, bombings, and other terror activities in the south and in Metro Manila.