MANILA, Philippines – Armed men with ties to al-Qaeda-linked militants have freed two Malaysian laborers from 10 months of jungle captivity, police said yesterday.
The hostages were seized last Feb. 8 from a seaweed farm in Malaysia’s Sabah state and whisked away in a speedboat to Philippine waters in a pattern similar to past kidnappings blamed on the notorious terrorist group Abu Sayyaf.
Elements of the Special Action Force (SAF), who had been searching for the captives, recovered the two near Bongao town in Tawi-Tawi late Tuesday, Philippine National Police chief Director General Raul Bacalzo told reporters.
He said the armed men linked to the Abu Sayyaf abandoned the hostages after they were encircled by government forces.
The kidnappers escaped and the Malaysians, Chen Yui Chung, 48, and Lai Wong Chun, 46, were flown to Manila. They were turned over to the Malaysian embassy after being debriefed by Philippine authorities.
The captors had demanded ransom but it was unclear if any was paid, as was the case with past kidnappings.
Malaysian and Philippine authorities were initially unsure if the hostages were still in Malaysia or in Mindanao where the Abu Sayyaf and other Muslim rebel groups have carried out kidnappings.
Officials in Tawi-Tawi ordered a search in the far-flung province after police in June monitored a cellphone call made by one of the captives to his family in Malaysia, according to a Philippine security official.
The official, who helped oversee the search, declined to be named because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
“They were brought from Tawi-Tawi to Sulu and back and we did not know where to look for them,” Tawi-Tawi Gov. Sadikul Sahali said.
Chen Yui Chung’s brother-in-law, Chong Man Tung, told The Associated Press in June that his relative had called him weeks after the kidnapping, saying the two were being held by armed men on an unspecified Philippine island.
The kidnappers apparently had moved the captives from Tawi-Tawi to nearby Sulu and back to evade the Philippine military and police manhunt, the security official said. – Cecille Suerte Felipe, Rudy Santos and AP