ZAMBOANGA CITY – A kidnap-for-ransom-group (KFRG) member believed to have ties with the Sulu-based Abu Sayyaf Group and three New People’s Army (NPA) rebels separately surrendered to authorities in the region, a top police official said Friday.
Colonel Richard Verceles, operations chief of the Area Police Command-Western Mindanao, said KFRG member Nasser Cobot, 43, surrendered around 1:30 p.m. Thursday in Barangay Poblacion in Sibuco town, Zamboanga del Norte province.
Cobot, who turned in an M16 rifle with ammunition, has a standing arrest warrant for theft with a PHP20,000 recommended bail issued in 2005 by a court in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte.
Verceles said Cobot has ties with the Sulu-based ASG and is affiliated with the Sehar Muloc crime group in Salug, Zamboanga del Norte, and the disbanded Sandag crime group in Sibuco.
Cobot was also allegedly involved in the abduction of Kerwin Abdilla, a lending firm collector, on Sept. 20, 2017 in Sitio Dalicanan, Barangay Nalah, Sibuco.
On Jan. 24, 2016, the suspect was also implicated in the ambush of a police patrol car where four people, including two policemen, were injured in Sitio Paringan, Barangay Sto. Niño, Sibuco.
Meanwhile, Verceles identified the three NPA surrenderers as Moreno Saren, 58; Edwin Gomisong, 38; and Efren Medina Sr., 64. They all belonged to the NPA’s Western Mindanao Regional Party Committee (WMRPC).
Saren, an NPA courier, surrendered around 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the police station of Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay.
Gomisong, also a courier, yielded to police authorities around 2 p.m. Thursday in Purok 2, Barangay Lacnapan, Kabasalan town.
Medina, an alleged spy of the NPA’s WMRPC, turned himself in around 10 p.m. Thursday in Barangay Dapiwak in Dumingag, Zamboanga del Sur.
Verceles said Medina also served as a courier of foodstuff and other basic needs of the rebels. (PNA)
