Abu Sayyaf arrested in Philippines drugs raid

By Hader Glang

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines

At least 34 suspected Abu Sayyaf militants were arrested Wednesday in connection with an alleged drug ring, the military said.

The suspects were arrested in a 4.00 a.m. local time (2000GMT Tuesday) operation in Patikul, a town on Sulu island in the southeastern Philippines, Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez, the head of Western Mindanao Command, said.

An Abu Sayyaf suspect was killed and a soldier wounded in the operation, he added.

Weapons including hand grenades and drug paraphernalia were discovered.

“This development can somehow prove that the Abu Sayyaf bandits [have] involved themselves in the drug trade to sustain the conduct of their terror attacks,” Galvez said.

Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte offered a 1 million Philippine peso ($20,000) bounty for every Abu Sayyaf member captured “dead or alive”, the Philippine Star newspaper said in its online edition.

He also called on people in Bohol, the central region where he was speaking, to take up arms against Abu Sayyaf, offering “protection” to anyone who killed a criminal or terrorist.