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No ransom paid for release of four Malaysian sailors in southern Philippines: police

Xinhua, June 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

Malaysian police said Thursday that no ransom was paid to secure the release of the four Malaysian sailors by the Abu Sayyaf militant group in southern Philippines.

National police chief Khalid Abu Bakar confirmed the four sailors were freed on Wednesday and now are back in Malaysia in healthy conditions.

He was quoted as saying by the state news agency Bernama that no ransom was paid to secure the release of the four men.

The four were the crew of a tugboat returning to Malaysia from the Philippines when they were abducted in the waters near Malaysian state of Sabah on April 1. They were believed to have been taken to the Sulu region of southern Philippines.

The 400-strong Abu Sayyaf, founded in the early 1990s by Islamic extremists, is a violent terrorist group operating in southern Philippines. The group is notorious for a series of kidnappings, bombings and beheadings over the decades, both in the Philippines and across the border in Malaysia.

Last month, Abu Sayyaf militants released 14 Indonesian sailors they took hostages in two earlier abductions. A Canadian hostage was beheaded in April following a ransom payment deadline had lapsed. Endit