RESCUED. Two of the 12 smugglers on motorboats from Zamboanga Sibugay rescued by fisherfolk in Datu Blah Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte, Tuesday afternoon (Feb. 7, 2024). Two others were rescued while the rest are still missing as armed men hijacked their boats and ordered them to jump overboard off the Moro Gulf in Maguindanao del Norte. (Photo courtesy of Datu Blah MPS)
DATU BLAH SINSUAT, Maguindanao Norte – Authorities and fisherfolk have been searching for the eight men who were hijacked at sea by gunmen off Maguindanao del Norte, an official said Wednesday.
“Search and rescue operations are continuing,” Capt. Abdulbasit Kulod, town police chief, said in an interview.
Four of the 12 crew members aboard two motorized pump boats from Zamboanga Sibugay were rescued by fishermen near the coast here on Tuesday afternoon.
The rescued crew members told the local police that they were transporting smuggled cigarettes from Zamboanga Sibugay to Maguindanao del Norte on Tuesday morning, but were stopped by suspected pirates on board smaller boats near Bongo Island, an island village near Parang town.
At gunpoint, the self-confessed smugglers were told to jump overboard as the suspects towed their motorized boats.
Police said the rescued persons, identified as Rasiden Asdali, Tawasil Jumadil, Yahya Hadjulani, and Gadjer Sampang, were brought by the local fishermen to the coastal Barangay Pura in this town.
Meanwhile, on the same day, police in nearby Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte, seized a cargo truck loaded with about PHP2.7 million worth of cigarettes and arrested three men.
Police authorities in the Bangsamoro region are still investigating if the smuggled cigarette boxes were those from the motorized boats seized by the gunmen near Bongo Island. (PNA)
