P.351-M reward for Abu tipster

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The US military and police formally handed over a P351,000 cash reward to a civilian informant who had tipped off the authorities on the whereabouts of an Abu Sayyaf member involved in the kidnapping of mostly foreign tourists in Palawan in 2001.

US Army Lt. Col. Frederick Riker and Chief Superintendent Jaime Caringal, Region 9 police director, handed over the reward at the regional police headquarters the other day.

Caringal said the informant led operatives of the Regional Intelligence Group, led by Superintendent Angelito Casimiro, in the arrest of Ustadz Nassid Tahjid, alias Rudimar Tajid and Ustadz Najul, in February last year in Baliwasan town.

Caringal said nearly a dozen civilian tipsters have received huge cash rewards from the US government.

So far, the biggest amount that the US government had given was $1 million to three Basilan residents who helped the Army arrest Hamsiraji Sali, one of five Abu Sayyaf leaders behind the Palawan kidnapping, in 2004. — Roel Pareño