[BenarNews] An Abu Sayyaf leader believed to have beheaded two Canadians in 2016 is back on the Malaysia's most wanted criminals list one year his name had been dropped over reports he had been slain.In its list released over the weekend, the Eastern Sabah Security Command names Abu Sayyaf member Ben Tatoh Quirino along with 17 other Filipinos linked to alleged trans-border crimes such as maritime kidnapping and piracy.
ESSCOM commander Hazani Ghazali said, “Ben Tatoh and a few others in our 2019 list used to be in our earlier list, but in 2018, we took their names off our record because we believed then they had been killed. Most recently we received confirmation from our Philippine counterparts that they were still alive, so we re-added their names to the latest list.”
In December, a Canadian research group stated Tatoh was alive after images appeared on social media. It said the fugitive had been laying low for more than two years after allegedly beheading Canadian tourists John Ridsdel and Robert Hall. Senior analyst Jeff Weyers said his group’s investigation revealed Tatoh was still on the loose and posing selfies on Facebook, including one that showed him wearing the Philippine National Police’s counter insurgency unit’s uniform.
PNP officials said the photo was not authentic. PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Benigno Durana said, "No, he was never a PNP member. We don’t have that name in our personnel database – former, active or AWOL."
Durana did not respond when asked if the militant could have been listed in the database under a different name.
Weyers said that Tatoh’s images appeared on Facebook in October 2018 and updates were being posted as recently as November before the profile was taken down because he apparently had posed with an Islamic State flag.
“Since then, another Facebook profile going by his other alias, Bhen Tatuh, has emerged,” Weyers said.