[PhilStar] Police arrested an Abu Sayyaf militant involved in a mass abduction and siege in Lamitan City, during a law enforcement operation late Thursday afternoon in a coastal village east of Zamboanga City. The captured suspect was identified as Wahab Sahirin Salapuddin, alias Abu Damdam, said to belong to an Abu Sayyaf group based in Basilan.Police spokesman Billy Beltran said local police nabbed Salapuddin after he was tracked to the vicinity of Barangay Sangali. He said Salapuddin has a warrant for seven counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention stemming from the mass abduction of plantation workers of Golden Harvest Plantation at Barangay Tairan, Lantawan town, Basilan on June 11, 2001. The police and military were also looking at Salapuddin’s participation in the siege of Lamitan City church and hospital on June 2 on the same year.
Beltran said the arrest of Salapuddin brings the number of arrested Abu Sayyaf member to 25.