Security forces arrested Nasser Usman, a member of the Abu Sayyaf group allegedly involved in the bloody 2001 Lamitan siege in Basilan on Tuesday.
Joint police and military operatives nabbed Usman in his hideout in Barangay Tandung Ahas in lamitan City at about 1:15 a.m., the Philippine National Police said.
Usman was apprehended by virtue of a warrant of arrest issued by Judge Danilo Bucoy of Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 2 in Isabela City for four counts of kidnapping with serious illegal detention in connection with the June 2001 Lamitan siege.
Usman was also the head of Abu Sayyaf’s Islamic Propagation and Indoctrination under leader Ustadz Abdurajak Janjalani.
He was also allegedly involved in the 1995 Ipil siege in Zamboanga Sibugay and in the kidnapping of several teachers and students from two schools in Barangay Tumahubong in Sumisip, Basilan in March 2000.
