2 of 5 Abus who surrendered in Sulu bomb-makers
Mindanao Peace Process • 19:30 PM Tue Jun 7, 2022
819
By:
John M. Unson
The five former terrorists are now in military custody. (From Joint Task Force Sulu)
CAMP SK PENDATUN, Maguindanao - Two of the five Abu Sayyaf members who surrendered in Sulu last Sunday are experts in fabrication of improvised explosive devices, local officials said Tuesday.
The five men, initially identified only as Bennajir, Monib, Abdurahsi, Rudy and Sattari pending their relocation to areas far from reach by hardcore Abu Sayyaf members, surrendered to the 45th Infantry Battalion.
The terror group has a reputation for its brutality on members who have returned to the fold of law and their families.
Reports reaching the headquarters here of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region stated that Benajir, Monib, Abdurahsi, Rudy and Sattari were followers of senior Abu Sayyaf leaders implicated in the abduction of Filipinos and foreigners, many of them beheaded for non-payment of ransom.
The five Abu Sayyaf members turned in rifles, a pistol and components for improvised explosive devices before they renounced their membership with the terror group in the presence of Major Gen. Ignatius Patrimonio Sunday.
The simple surrender rite was held at the headquarters of the 45th IB in Barangay Tugas in Patikul, Sulu
Patrimonio said the five men agreed to surrender through the backchannel efforts of the 45th IB, the Sulu Provincial Police and the local government unit of Patikul.
No fewer than a hundred Abu Sayyaf members in Sulu surrendered to the police and military in batches in the past 24 months as a result of a domestic peace program supported by the office of Gov. Hadji Abdusakur Tan.
Tan is the presiding chairperson of the multi-sector Sulu provincial peace and order council.