Authorities have arrested a man accused of kidnapping an Italian businessman who was held hostage for six months by the Abu Sayyaf Group, the military said Sunday.
Retired Catholic priest Rolando del Torchio was abducted last October and released unharmed on the Abu Sayyaf stronghold of Sulu island in April.
The arrested suspect, Sehar Muloc, also known as Commander Red Eye, helped the kidnappers select and stalk their Italian target, regional military spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan told AFP.
Tan said Muloc was arrested at a safe house in Barangay Kaliantana, Naga, Zamboanga Sibugay by operatives of Task Force Zampelan by virtue of a warrant of arrest for kidnapping Del Torchio issued on Oct. 7, 2015.
Del Torchio was abducted by armed men led by Muloc inside the retired priest’s pizza restaurant in Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte. Muloc then turned over Del Torchio to Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Idang Susukan.
Del Torchio was released on April 9 reportedly after the payment of a P30 million ransom.
“[Muloc] is linked with the Abu Sayyaf. We have no information on whether he is also a member,” Tan said, referring to the kidnap group.
Del Torchio, then 56, had worked as a missionary for the international organization PIME from 1998 before retiring in 2000 to set up his restaurant, colleagues told AFP shortly after he was abducted.
The Abu Sayyaf murdered a Canadian hostage in April but subsequently released 18 Indonesian and four Malaysian captives.
The group still holds another Canadian man, a Dutchman and a Norwegian, along with five Filipinos, the military said.
The kidnappers have threatened to kill either the Canadian or the Norwegian if a P300-million ransom is not paid by today, Monday.
The military is bracing for the possible beheading of either Canadian Robert Hall or Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad today, the deadline set by the Abu Sayyaf for their relatives to deliver the P300- million ransom for each of them.
Hall and his Filipino girlfriend Marites Flor, Sekkingstad and the slain John Ridsdel, also a Canadian, were abducted by armed men believed to be led by a rogue commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front last August 2015 at a resort in Samal Island.
The kidnappers beheaded Ridsdel after his relatives failed to pay his P300 million ransom.
