ZAMBOANGA CITY”•Combined police and military operatives on Monday arrested a suspected Abu Sayyaf Group brigand facing a string of criminal cases in this city.
The arrest came as President Rodrigo Duterte vowed to pursue the fight against terrorism, saying he will not talk nor grant amnesty to the Abu Sayyaf.
Chief Insp. Elmer Solon, Police Station 4 chief, identified the arrested suspect as Abdul Baliyung alias Majula Gani, 34, a resident of Barangay Sangali, this city.
Solon said Baliyung was arrested around 2:22 p.m. Monday in the vicinity of the Zamboanga International Airport by police and military intelligence personnel.
Solon said Baliyung has standing warrant of arrest for seven counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention issued by a court in Isabela City, Basilan dated January 28, 2008.
He said the suspect is detained at the headquarters of Police Station 4 pending turnover to the court concerned.
He said the suspect will also be placed under investigation to determine why he was at the airport.
Also on Monday, Duterte vowed he would not grant any amnesty to the Abu Sayyaf for the atrocities they have committed in the past.
“There will be no talks. There will never be an amnesty for Abu Sayyaf,” President Duterte said in Malacañang on Monday.
“I have to do my job. The Abu Sayyaf were decapitating people,” Duterte said in a speech he delivered at the oathtaking of officials of Malacañang Press Corps, Malacañang Cameramen Association, and Presidential Photographers Association at the Palace’s Heroes hall.
Duterte had ordered the state forces to enforce an operation to suppress the Abu Sayyaf group, which is famous for kidnappings, beheading and bombings, in Basilan and Sulu.
He earlier said that the bandit group was fighting to establish a Caliphate, which is a kingdom for the Muslim.
“Abu Sayyaf no longer hungers for independence in Mindanao. They are no longer hungry for autonomy; they are hungry for a fight to establish a Caliphate in Southeast Asia,” Duterte said.