CIDG COLLARS ABU SAYYAF BAGMAN IN TAWI-TAWI

Joint operatives from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), local police and intelligence  unit of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have arrested one of the founding members of the Abu  Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Tawi-Tawi amid the continuing gun battle between government troops and the  terrorists in nearby Basilan.

Police Director Samuel D. Pagdilao, Jr., CIDG chief, said joint operating units from the CIDG and Community Investigative Support (CIS), the Philippine Center on Transnational Crimes, 84th SAC Special  Action Force, Marine Battalion Landing Team-5, Naval Intelligence Service Group for Western Mindanao,  Tawi-Tawi Provincial Police Office and the Regional Intelligence Unit 15 in coordination with the Directorate  of Integrated Police Operations for Western Mindanao arrested Ustadz Ahmadsali Asmad Badron alias  Ammad, Hamad Ustadz Idris in Barangay Lamion in the said island at about 8:50 a.m. on Saturday July 28,  2012. 

Badron has a standing warrant of arrest for six counts of kidnapping with serious illegal detention. Badron is  one of the original members of the ASG and a cousin of one of the group's leaders, the late Nadzme Sabtula  alias "Commander Global”. 

The suspect was involved in the kidnapping of tourists and resort staff in Sipadan, Malaysia and members of  the religious group Jehovah's Witnesses in Jolo in 2000 and 2003, respectively. 

The subject was formerly under the command of the late Abu Sayyaf head, Galib Andang alias "Commander  Robot”. 

Police Senior Superintendent Edgar Cabrera Danao, CIDG Region 9  chief, said Badron was  among the  trusted members of the ASG who kept millions of pesos in ransom money they collected from their  operations. 

He is also an alleged Jemaah Islamiah facilitator to ASG's foreign members namely Maweyah, Qaem, Dulmatin, Palestinian Yusef; and to local members identified as Ibni Akosta and Tuan Muktar. 

"They were contacts persons of Hata Haipe or Ustadz Tuan Awliayah in Malaysia until his arrest in 2008 in  Kuala Lumpur and other Palestinian nationals belonging to the radical group Hamas under Yusef, who is a  supporter of Al Qaeda in Southern Philippines," Danao said.