AN ABU Sayyaf sub-leader involved in kidnapping and selling illegal drugs in Tawi-Tawi was shot and killed after he resisted arrest on Tuesday, an official said.
Buchoy Hassan, 48, alias Black or Bocoi, violently resisted while being accosted by members of the Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi at his residence in Panglima Alari village in Sintangkai town around 8:30 a.m., said Capt. Jo-Ann Petinglay, spokesman of the Western Mindanao Command.
He said the arresting officers found an M16 rifle, five speedboats and several outboard motors at his residence.
Petinglay made his statement even as another official said Tuesday the Abu Sayyaf bandits had released the public school teacher they seized a few days ago in Sulu.
Col. Cirilito Sobejana, commander of the Joint Task Force Sulu, said the teacher, Ibrahim Potong, was freed Monday in an undisclosed place in Sulu.
He said Potong was reunited with his family in Latih village in Patikul after his release.
Potong, a teacher of Jolo National High School, was driving his motorcycle in Maimbung town when the Abu Sayyaf seized him on March 10.
The Abu Sayyaf are holding 31 more hostages of whom 26 are foreigners.
Hassan brings to 24 the number of Abu Sayyaf bandits killed in the military campaign to neutralize the group.
Hassan was involved in the abduction of Taiwanese national Chang An Wei or Evelyn Chan at the Pom Pom Island Resort in Sabah in November 2013.
Petinglay said Hassan had been dealing in shabu and residence was being used as a pay-off site for his illegal drug trade in Sibutu, Sipangkot and Bongao, all in Tawi-Tawi. With PNA