THE four Malaysians abducted by the Abu Sayyaf Group last April 1 were released Tuesday in Sulu and immediately ferried to Sandakan, Malaysia even as the military said it is investigating reports that ransom was paid for their release.
“We have yet to confirm whether ransom money was paid in exchange for the safe release of the victims,” Major Filemon Tan, spokesman of the Western Mindanao Command [Westmincom], said in a statement.
The freed victims were Wong Teck Kang, 31, and Wong Teck Chii, 29, their cousin, Johnny Lau Jung Hien, 21, and Wong Hung Sing, 34.
Tan said the Malaysians were freed early in the morning at the shoreline of Barangay Lagasan Higat in Parang and were immediately boarded onto a speedboat that soon left for Sandakan.
“The four victims who were aboard Tugboat Massive 6 were abducted by the ASG believed to be led by ASG sub-leader Madjan Sahidjuan, alias Apuh Mike, off the high seas of Sempornah, Sabah last April 01,” Tan said.
“Information received from ground units disclosed that the freed victims arrived in Sandakan at about 6 a.m. today,” he added.
Multiple reports said the release of the victims was negotiated by the help of some Filipino-Malaysians.
Formed in the early 1990s, the Abu Sayyaf is a radical offshoot of a Muslim separatist insurgency in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines.
The militants regularly abduct foreigners and locals to extort money for their release.
In May, the Abu Sayyaf released 14 Indonesian sailors who had been kidnapped in two high-seas raids similar to the abduction of the Malaysians.
The kidnappings prompted Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to launch joint patrols in their waters and set up a security hotline.
In April, the Abu Sayyaf beheaded Canadian hostage John Ridsdel after a deadline for paying a ransom of $6.4 million passed, and in November last year killed a Malaysian man.
Ridsdel was kidnapped along with a Canadian friend, a Norwegian man and a Filipina from aboard yachts at a marina in the southern Philippines in September last year.
The Abu Sayyaf has warned it will kill either the Canadian or the Norwegian if a multi-million-dollar ransom is not paid by Monday.
The Abu Sayyaf is also holding a Dutch birdwatcher kidnapped in 2012.
The Abu Sayyaf’s leaders have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, but analysts say it is more focused on kidnappings for ransom than setting up a caliphate.