Manila: A leader of a kidnap group allegedly posed as a sultan to lure two Algerian Filipina film makers who were making a documentary on the Sultanate of Sulu, in the southern Philippines, and it resulted in their abduction last Saturday, a local paper has said.

Nadjoua Bansil, 39, and her sister Linda, 35, together with 19 other people, stayed in the house of a certain Sultan Mauzidin Bantilan in Danag Village, Sulu on Thursday (June 20). They were there to make a documentary on the Sultanate of Sulu, Senior Inspector Conrad Gutierrez, police chief of Patikul town, told the Inquirer.

The Bansils and their companions left Jolo for Danag village on June 20, said Gutierrez.

At the same time, Len Manriquez of Peace and Conflict Journalism Network also told the Inquirer that she called up the mobile phone on Nadjoua when she heard about the kidnapping incident, but a certain Yasir Rajim who claimed to be the film-makers’ gofer, answered the phone.

She quoted Rajim as narrating events prior to the kidnapping incident, saying, “On Thursday (June 20), they (Bansil sisters and company) arrived in Jolo (Danag) and were hosted by the Sulu Sultanate Darul Islam (SSDI).”

It appears they stayed there over night, since Manriquez quoted Rajim as saying the film-makers and their companions proceeded to Sinuuman town on Friday morning (June 21).

The group also stayed at Sinumaan overnight so that the film-makers could get shots of sunrise, Rajim told Manriquez.

On Saturday (June 22), armed men blocked their Jeepney when they were at Liang town in Patikul, at about 10 in the morning, Rajim reported.

“He (Rajim) also said that they insisted to be taken as well but the kidnappers only wanted to take the two ladies,” Manriquez narrated her phone dialogue with Rajim.

It is not known if Sultan Bantilan is a fictional character or not. But Gutierrez, the police chief, quoted Bantilan as saying that they (Bantilan) are “trying to negotiate for safe release of the two ladies.”

Bantilan also requested that members of the local government, the police and military must “maintain distance,” said Gutierrez.

“But so far they (Bantilan) are still on the stage of trying to determine the location of the captors,” Gutierrez also said. He did not say how he was able to get in touch with Bantilan.

Abraham Idjirani, spokesperson of Sultan Jamalul Kiram, the Sultanate of Sulu, said that Mauzilin Bantilan must be non-existent now because he is known as a 17th century sultan.

Octavio Dinampo of the Western Mindanao University also told the Inquirer, “Rajim could be behind the abduction. What we gathered is that they (kidnappers) were really members of the Lucky 9, a group of Abu Sayyaf orphans and drug addicts.”

The Philippine government has allowed since early 2000 a 600 US contingent to assist Filipino soldiers with intelligence reports, in fighting the Abu Sayyaf Group.

The group is still holding Jordanian TV journalist Baker Atyani following his kidnapping in Sulu on June 12, 2012. His two Filipino crewmen were released last February, after alleged payment of ransom. The group holding Atyani is also asking for a ransom payment, sources said.

The group is also still holding bird watchers Ewold Horn of the Netherlands and Lorenzo Vinciguerra of Switzerland, who were kidnapped in February 2012, as well as two Malaysian traders and a Japanese man.

Australian Warren Rodwell, 53, kidnapped from his home in December 2011, was released after alleged payment of ransom. Also released earlier was an Indian married to a Filipino.

In 2000, the group kidnapped 21 mostly-European tourists from a Malaysian island resort, and brought them by boat to Jolo. Libya brokered the ransom payment estimated at millions of dollars.

In 2001, the group kidnapped three Americans and a group of Filipino and Chinese-Filipino tourists from a resort in Palawan, southwestern Philippines. They were brought to Basilan Island. One American was beheaded and an American missionary was killed during a botched rescue operation in late 2001.

Seed money from the late Al Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden helped found the group in the south in the 1990s.