Wanted senior Abu Sayyaf member arrested in Sulu province

COTABATO CITY --- Agents arrested on Saturday night in Jolo, Sulu a senior member of the Islamic State-inspired Abu Sayyaf wanted for kidnapping and other heinous offenses.Chief Superintendent Graciano Mijares of the Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said Sunday Hashim Abtain, most known in Sulu province as Abu Imam, is now detained, awaiting prosecution.Mijares said police units in Sulu were assisted by the Police Regional Office-9 in Zamboanga City in the operation that led to the arrest of Abtain.Abtain reportedly enjoyed the protection of certain powerful politicians in Sulu, enabling him to move around in the island province freely.Sulu, a component area of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, is touted as the most dangerous province in the country, a strong bastion of the Abu Sayyaf, which uses the black Islamic State flag. God-fearing vigilant people in the local communities helped the police locate him in Jolo on Saturday night, Mijares said.Abtain did not resist arrest when personnel of the Sulu provincial police and PRO-9, backed by soldiers, cornered and immediately cuffed him while inside a house along Serrantes Street in Jolo, capital town of Sulu.Mijares said he is thankful to military units under the Western Mindanao Command for providing tactical support to the operation that resulted in the arrest of Abtain. The long hand of law has finally reached him, Mijares said.