Sayyaf frees 4 gas traders

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Four gasoline traders have been released by their Abu Sayyaf captors in Maimbung, Sulu, a police official said.

Superintendent Julasirim Kasim, Sulu police director, said he received raw information that the four hostages have been freed somewhere in Maimbung, and that he has sent his men to verify the report.

Kasim revealed the report in a meeting with Marines at the headquarters of the anti-terror Joint Task Force Comet in Barangay Bus-bus, Jolo town.

The four gas traders were seized last Tuesday by Abu Sayyaf men who flagged down their jeepney in the village of Kulasi in Maimbung town.

The Abu Sayyaf band, led by Gapur Jumdail, younger brother of Abu Sayyaf leader Umbra Jumdail alias Dr. Abu Pula, initially seized six people but released two of them on the same day.

Kasim said it remained sketchy as to how the victims were freed and whether ransom was paid in exchange for their freedom.

Kasim said the abduction was “unusual” because its previous victims were mostly prominent non-Muslim residents of the town.

The group also recently held captive for 15 hours an education official in Patikul town, but freed him after the village leader negotiated his release.

The Abu Sayyaf is still holding captive 58-year-old businesswoman Ma. Rosalie Lao who was abducted in Jolo last January.