Security forces yesterday moved deep into the jungles to search and rescue the German hostage facing serious threat from his Abu Sayyaf captors who had demanded P30 million for his freedom.
Elite army special forces and ranger battalions were mobilized in the hinterlands of Sulu and Basilan to locate and snatch back 70-year-old Jurgen Kantner of Germany from the ASG.
The terrorist group has threatened to behead Kantner if the government fails to produce the ransom money within the next 11 days. The deadline lapses on Feb. 26.
Col. Cirilito Sobejana, Commander of Joint Task Force Sulu, however, vows to locate and rescue the kidnap victim ahead of the deadline.
“We are doing our best efforts to rescue the kidnap victim. We have enough forces to do that,” Sobejano said.
Last year, the ASG made good their threat when they beheaded two Canadian captives—Robert Hall and John Ridsdel”•over the failure of the victim’s families and government to come up with the ransom money.
Kantner, along with his partner Sabine Merz, were snatched by the ASG while they were sailing off the coast of Sabah on board a 50-foot yatch sometime in November last year.
In the latest video footage still being validated by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the heavily armed bandits who had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State, presented Kantner at an undisclosed safe house somewhere in Mindanao.
Sobejana said the success of rescuing the kidnap victim will also rely on the support of the civilians who could help by providing vital information of the location of Kantner and his captors.
“We cannot do it alone, as a matter of fact, we need the support also of the civilians particularly the communities as to where the kidnap victim was brought,” Sobejana said.
When asked where Kantner is possibly being kept, the JTFS commander declined to comment, although he added that they have an idea and are monitoring the possible location.
“I cannot divulge to you whose group is keeping the kidnap victim, but we have an idea already and we will wait what will happen in the next few days,” he added.
“There are a lot of challenges and we are trying to strategize, with so many battalions that I have, we want to cover all areas of Sulu particularly where the kidnap victim was brought to,” Sobejana said.
As to the latest video footage showing Kantner with a bolo above his head, Sobejana refused to confirmed its veracitym saying the matter was just conveyed to him.
He said there are 14 battalions of troops presently deployed within his jurisdictional area covering Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi, all positoned against the ASG.
“I will make the full use of my available manpower and troops under my command to decimate the ASG,” Sobejana said, referring to efforts to locate Kantner. “Hopefully we will be able to get the victim with no ransom.”
The ASG presently are still keeping 27 hostages, among them Malaysians, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Dutch and a Filipino.
President Rodrigo Duterte has earlier ordered the military to neutralize the ASG within a six-month period, covering July this year.