ZAMBOANGA CITY, 7 January 2005 — Government soldiers recaptured yesterday an escaped Abu Sayyaf guerrilla tagged as one of those who kidnapped three US citizens and 17 Filipino holiday-makers in the central Philippines in mid-2001, security officials said.
Officials paraded Titing Hanno to reporters at the tightly guarded Southern Command headquarters in Zamboanga City after soldiers cornered him on a hideout in the island of Sacol, about 3 kilometers southeast of Zamboanga.
Southern Philippines military commander Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza said a civilian informant led soldiers to Hanno’s hideout. “For those who continue their nefarious activities, let this be a fair warning. There is no escape,” he told reporters.
A military dossier said Hanno, who is also known as Abu Jacaria, participated in the kidnapping of California man Guillerno Sobero and Kansas missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and the Filipinos in a raid on the posh Dos Palmas resort in Palawan province in 2000.
Sobero was beheaded by kidnappers in June 2001, while Martin Burnham and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap were killed during a US-led military rescue operation in June 2002 in Zamboanga del Norte province.
Last week, the military said it rescued Dr. Avelrio Canda after 41 days in captivity on the hands of the Abu Sayyaf group in the southern island of Jolo.
The United States offered a $25,000 bounty for the arrest of Hanno, who is facing three death sentences for the Dos Palmas raid.
The US government has offered as much as $5 million for the capture of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani and several known leaders. Braganza said Hanno, first arrested in May 2002, was one of dozens who bolted a jail in Basilan island and is included in the military’s most wanted list.
