ZAMBOANGA CITY – A suspect in the beheading of 10 Marines last month surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday.
Officials said Buhari Jamiri, one of the 130 suspects listed in the warrant of arrest issued by the Basilan Regional Trial Court, gave himself up following negotiations at an undisclosed place in Basilan.
Jamiri is now undergoing interrogation at Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), according to a military source.
“He was brought there for security reasons,” the source, who requested anonymity, said.
Westmincom officials declined to confirm or deny that Jamiri is in their custody.
Lamitan City Mayor Roderick Furigay said reports reaching Basilan said NBI agents apprehended Jamiri when he arrived in Lamitan in a bus from Tipo-Tipo at about 7 a.m. yesterday.
Basilan police director Senior Superintendent Salik Macapantar confirmed the surrender of Jamiri, but did not give any details.
“The reports indicated that the guy surrendered presumably after negotiation,” he said.
NBI agents arrived aboard a Navy patrol boat, which fetched Jamiri from an undisclosed place in Zamboanga City, he added.
Furigay said he had no other details of the surrender or of the whereabouts of Jamiri, younger brother of former Tuburan mayor Hajarun Jamiri.
NBI offcials in Zamboanga City would not comment on the reported surrender of Jamiri.
MILF disengages Marines
Meanwhile, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has agreed to reposition its forces away from towns in Basilan where Marines are running after Abu Sayyaf terrorists accused of beheading 10 Marines last month.
Von Al-Haq, chairman of the MILF Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities, told reporters he and his counterpart in the government, Brig. Gen. Edgardo Gurrea, forged an interim, low-level security arrangement detailing the repositioning of guerrilla forces.
“This will allow an undisrupted hunt by government forces of the ASG members implicated in the beheading of 10 of the 14 Marines killed in the July 10 encounter with MILF fighters in Albarka (in Basilan),” he said.
Al-Haq said the security agreement was forged the other night after an extensive dialogue by members of the government and MILF’s joint ceasefire committees.
The security agreement will prevent clashes between the MILF and government troops involved in the police action against those responsible for the beheading of 10 Marines in Basilan last month, he added.
Marines have been running after the Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Tipo-Tipo and Ungkaya Pukan towns in Basilan since Tuesday.
Troops have been bombarding with mortar and 105 Howitzer cannons strategic points in Tipo-Tipo to flush out the Abu Sayyaf, according to the MILF news website, www.luwaran.com. – Roel Pareño, John Unson