Police capture Sayyaf sub-leader readying attacks in Zamboanga

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Security forces captured a notorious Abu Sayyaf sub-leader that police said was plotting terror attacks in the Zamboanga Peninsula in southern Philippines.

 A police photo released to the Zamboanga Post newspaper shows Brig. Gen. Jesus Cambay Jr, the regional police chief, (left) and 2 other officials with captured Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Jamiul Nassalon in Zamboanga City.

Brig. Gen. Jesus Cambay Jr, the regional police chief, said Jamiul Nassalon was tracked down in his hideout in Caliran village in Zamboanga Sibugay’s Mabuhay town on Wednesday. “Presently, Jamiul Nassalon is in the process of organizing his group intended for another terroristic activity within the Zamboanga Peninsula,” he said.

Cambay described the police operation that led to Nassalon’s capture as “high risk and intelligence-driven” with at least six different land and sea units tapped to seize the terrorist.

“Jamiul Nassalon was arrested (by police forces) after a 3-hour travel using high-speed sea craft which surreptitiously entered the shorelines of Mabuhay municipality, taking advantage of the darkness of the night and unknown to him a police asset and members of the Barangay Intelligence Network had been monitoring his activities,” he said.

He said the 41-year old Nassalon, who uses various nom de guerre, is facing a string of criminal charges in connection to his bloody attacks against civilians in the region.

Nassalon was also implicated in the 2009 kidnapping of 71-year old Doroteo Gonzales, a carpenter in Zamboanga City who was eventually beheaded in Basilan province after his family failed to pay P25 million ransom in exchange for his life.

He was tagged as involved in the bombing of a provincial bus in Zamboanga City in 2012 that wounded at least 6 people. And the killings of 8 fishermen off Siromon Island, also in Zamboanga in 2017; and the strafing of a provincial in Buenavista village here that injured at least 8 passengers.

“His terrorist activities have caused death and injuries to a considerable number of persons and damaged substantial amounts of property,” Cambay said.

Nassalon’s capture came after National Police Chief General Archie Gamboa ordered an intensify campaign against the terrorist group linked to ISIS and Mayor Beng Climaco also ordered the police and military to tighten security in Zamboanga City following the August 24 twin suicide bombings carried out by widows of slain Abu Sayyaf fighters in the capital town of Jolo in Sulu province. 

The attacks, claimed by ISIS, had killed over a dozen people and injured many civilians. (Zamboanga Post)

Like Us on Facebook: The Mindanao Examiner
Like Us on Facebook: The Zamboanga Post
Follow Us on Twitter: Mindanao Examine
Mirror Site: Mindanao Examiner Blog
Digital Archives: Mindanao Examiner Digital
Media Rates: Advertising Rates