Got a Big Fish in the Philippines
The Abu Sayyaf terrorist responsible for decapitating American hostage Guillermo Sobero in June 2001 has been captured in Mindanao.
Military intelligence agents have arrested the Abu Sayyaf leader who allegedly decapitated American hostage Guillermo Sobero in June 2001, the military said Saturday.
Major Eugene Batara, spokesperson of the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), said Annik Abbas alias Abu Anek was arrested on Friday evening in Colonia village in Lamitan, Basilan.
Abbas’s victim, Sobero, was among 21 persons — including American couple Martin and Gracia Burnham — taken from the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan during a raid by the group of bandits in May 2001.
Sobero’s execution was announced by Abu Sayyaf spokesperson Abu Sabaya two weeks after the abduction. “We have beheaded Sobero as a gift to the country on Independence Day,” Sabaya told a local radio station then. Sobero’s body was found about three weeks later, also in Basilan.