THE Armed Forces of the Philippines confirmed the release of four Indonesian hostages from the hands of Abu Sayyaf bandits Wednesday afternoon.
“At about 2 p.m. today, the local government in Jolo, Sulu turned over to the AFP’s Joint Task Force Sulu the four remaining Indonesian hostages who were earlier kidnapped off the waters of Tawi-Tawi,” said AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla.
Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan turned over the four Indonesians to Brig. Gen. Arnel dela Vega, Western Mindanao Command deputy chief, and 501st Infantry Brigade commander Col. Jose Faustino Jr. who took them to Camp Teodulfo Bautista in Busbus, Jolo for physical and medical examination.
“Arrangements are now being finalized for the hand over of the Indonesian nationals to Indonesian authorities,” Padilla said.
Intelligence reports from Sulu indicated the four Indonesians were freed around 9 p.m. Tuesday in Barangay Silangkan in Indanan, Sulu.
The Indonesian sailors are crew members of m/v Masfive 6 that was sailing the waters of Tawi-Tawi on April 15 when they were intercepted by the Abu Sayyaf.
The Indonesians were released as Australian authorities announced that Australian jihadist who was nabbed with his Filipina girl friend in Cebu last year was again arrested in the Australian state of Queensland and accused of planning to sail to Indonesia en route to join jihadist groups in Syria.
The 30-year-old Musa Cerantonio, who was arrested in July 11, 2014 in Lapu-Lapu, Cebu, was among five men who allegedly bought a seven-meter (23-foot) boat and drove it 2,840 kilometeres (1,765 miles) from Melbourne north to Queensland state where they planned to set sail to Indonesia, the Australian Federal Police said.
Attorney-General George Brandis said they were arrested because they intended to “leave Australia by sea, transiting to Indonesia and, from Indonesia, seeking to reach Syria to engage in hostile acts in that country.”
“The suspicion is that they were seeking to leave Australia by [the] vessel to avoid the fact that they couldn’t travel by air because their passports had been canceled,” he said.
The nationalities of the men, aged between 21 and 33, was not given and they have yet to be charged.
Police did not say when they were picked up but Melbourne’s Age newspaper reported they were detained on Tuesday. Brandis said they were arrested at an unspecified location north of Cairns, a gateway to the Great Barrier Reef popular with international tourists.
Canberra has been increasingly concerned about its citizens fighting with jihadist organisations such as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, saying some 110 Australians had left the country to join such groups.
Between 50 and 59 nationals have so far been killed fighting in Iraq or Syria, Brandis said last week.
Australia has long been worried about homegrown extremism and the terror threat alert has been raised to level to high since September 2014.
It has passed a raft of national security laws, including legislation allowing for passports to be cancelled to prevent Australians from leaving the country.
At least six attacks have been foiled on Australian soil over the past 18 months, but several have taken place, including the terror-linked murder of a police employee in Sydney in October.