Janjalani's brod-in-law nabbed in Basilan

ZAMBOANGA CITY ,Philippines  – Elite troops captured an original Abu Sayyaf member, a brother-in-law of the group’s slain founder Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, during a raid in Basilan on Friday, the military said.

Col. Alex Macario, chief of Special Operations Task Force-Basilan (SOTF-B), said the government troops had tracked down Jal Idris, alias Jahari Idris, since Thursday night before capturing him at around 5:30 a.m. Friday in his hideout in Barangay Tandu Ahas, Lamitan City.

The SOTF-B is an anti-terror unit composed of Army Scout Rangers and Special Forces running after the Abu Sayyaf bandits.

“There was no resistance as he (Idris) was surprised during the raid… There were reports that the suspect was with other comrades who are now the subject of the pursuit operation,” Macario said.

Janjalani, who founded the Abu Sayyaf in 1990, was slain in an encounter with police commandos in 1998 in a village in Lamitan.

His younger brother, Khadaffy, who succeeded him as Abu Sayyaf chief, was also killed in a clash in Sulu in September 2006.

Macario said Idris had a standing warrant of arrest issued in 1998 by the Basilan court for kidnappings with serious illegal detention. 

Idris, according to Macario, is undergoing debriefing before he is turned over to the police.