Philippine militants got ransom for Norwegian, say analysts

A notorious kidnapping-for-ransom gang in the strife-torn southern Philippines enjoyed another lucrative payday when it released a Norwegian hostage after a year in captivity, analysts said Monday.

A bearded and bedraggled Kjartan Sekkingstad was released Saturday on a remote southern island after what analysts said was almost certainly a payment in the thousands of dollars after the Abu Sayyaf demanded millions.

The Philippine and Norwegian governments have denied paying ransom for the release of Sekkingstad, while highlighting their efforts to secure his freedom after the kidnappers had beheaded two of his fellow hostages, both Canadian.

Security analysts said the Abu Sayyaf would never release a hostage without ransom.

"There was a ransom payment negotiated by intermediaries of the family with diplomatic help. My information is 30 million pesos ($625,000) was paid," said Rodolfo Mendoza, senior analyst of Manila-based Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research.

"Hostage-taking is the Abu Sayyaf's fund-raising activity," Mendoza, a former police general, told AFP.

Sekkingstad's brother Odd Kåre Sekkingstad declined to comment when asked by AFP about reports of a ransom.

His sibling was abducted by the Abu Sayyaf from a tourist resort in September 2015, alongside a Filipina who has been freed, and the two Canadians who were beheaded in April and June.

Philippine authorities have said the Norwegian was freed due to a military offensive which President Rodrigo Duterte ordered against the militants, and with the help of a separate Muslim rebel group holding peace talks with the government.

Duterte himself had said last month that 50 million pesos ($1 million) had been paid for Sekkingstad's release.

"The Norwegian, that's already paid," Duterte told reporters.

"I don't know (where the money came from), maybe my bank," he said in jest when asked who paid the ransom.

Zachary Abuza, a Southeast Asian security expert at the National War College in the United States, told AFP there was no doubt ransom was paid.

"The (Abu Sayyaf) did not release him out of the goodness of their hearts... governments have to deny paying ransoms, as it incentivises more hostage-taking. But often governments will use third parties."

The payment would allow Abu Sayyaf to buy more guns through the black market, Abuza added.

The Abu Sayyaf, blamed for the nation's worst terror attacks, is a loose network of militants formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.

Based in remote Muslim-populated southern islands of the mainly Catholic Philippines and listed by the US as a terrorist organisation, some of its leaders have since pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.

In 2014 the Abu Sayyaf boasted of receiving 250 million pesos for two German hostages it freed after six months in captivity.

In 2013 the militants also released an Australian ex-soldier after holding him for 15 months, with a local politician who acted as a negotiator saying ransom was paid. </s> Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who recently issued orders to the country's armed forces to eliminate Abu Sayyaf, mistakenly revealed that they paid a ransom to the militant group for the release of Norwegian hostage Kjartan Sekkingstad. In what appeared to be a slip of the tongue, Duterte said 50m Philippines peso (£816,098, $1m) was paid to Abu Sayyaf.

The accidental revelation came when the president was addressing a news conference in his hometown of Davao City on Wednesday (24 August) night. He was answering queries about the recent beheading of an Abu Sayyaf captive in Sulu province.

So far, the Filipino government has maintained that it has a policy of not surrendering to kidnappers' demands. However, the latest revelation by the president himself has raised concerns about the country's stand against Abu Sayyaf, which has pledged allegiance to international terrorist group Islamic State (Isis).

Journalists when asked Duterte whether he was aware of the beheading on Tuesday (23 August) in Sulu, he retorted: "If that's the one, then I will accuse the Abu Sayyaf of acting in bad faith. They have been paid 50,000 Philippine Pseso already." He then corrected himself and said the ransom amount was 50m Philippine peso, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.

Duterte apparently thought that the journalists were referring to the Norwegian hostage who has still not been released by Abu Sayyaf from captivity, while the question actually referred to the beheading of 18-year-old Patrick James Almodovar, who was abducted on 16 July from a village in Jolo Island in southwest Philippines. The boy was kidnapped by the Ajang-Ajang faction of Abu Sayyaf .

However, the president soon realised that he had disclosed a piece of information that should have been a secret, and immediately changed the course of the interaction by reasserting his resolve to fight the militant group. "Destroy them. Period," he said.

The president declined to divulge any more information about the ransom payment. When asked where the money came from, he only said: "Maybe from my bank." </s> FOLLOWING the release of one Norwegian and three Indonesian hostages, the military on Sunday vowed to maintain intense pressure on the Abu Sayyaf terrorist and kidnap group to force it to free other captives.

Gen. Ricardo Visaya, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), said the military would be unrelenting in its operations against the bandit group.

“We will continue to forge the support and cooperation of the local residents who will ultimately benefit from the success of these operations,” he said.

Maj. Felimon Tan, spokesman of the AFP’s Western Mindanao Command, claimed that relentless land, sea and air operations forced the Abu Sayyaf to free Norwegian kidnap victim Kjartan Sekkingstad.

The Naval Commander Amphibious Task Group conducted raids at the islands of Pata and Kalinggalang Caluang in Sulu, resulting in the confiscation of 15 unregistered motorized boats, Tan said.

A boat was also seized by the Philippine National Police in Parang, Sulu. The boat was believed to have been used by Abu Sayyaf member Alhabsy Misaya, who was said to have been responsible for kidnapping Indonesian and Malaysian tugboat crews in the high seas in the past months.

Commenting on reports that ransom money went to the kidnappers, Arevalo said: “We have not received such information [on ransom]although we can always validate that on the ground. Maybe it is not that apparent to the public the effect, or how the intensity of the unrelenting conduct of operations really falls on the Abu Sayyaf Group.”

Brig. Gen. Arnel de la Vega, commander of the AFP Joint Task Force Sulu, claimed the Abu Sayyaf was forced to release Sekkingstad because his presence “slows them down” and releasing him would allow the kidnap group to evade soldiers.

Sekkingstad was kidnapped along with Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall and Maritess Flor, a Filipina, in September last year in a resort at Samal Island in Davao del Norte province.

Ridsdel and Hall were beheaded by the Abu Sayyaf supposedly after no ransom money was paid. Flor was released by the group in June. </s> RANSOM PAID. President Rodrigo Dutere updates reporters on Norwegian kidnap victim Kjartan Sekkingstad, who is being held by the Abu Sayyaf, on August 25, 2016. Photo by Editha Caduaya/ Rappler

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The Abu Sayyaf group has received a P50-million ransom payment for its Norwegian hostage, Kjartan Sekkingstad, but the group has not yet released him as it reportedly wants to get even "more" money, President Rodrigo Duterte said on Thursday, August 25.

"They kept on postponing it [the release] because of the huge sum of money. Millions. 'Yung Norwegian, bayad na 'yon (Ransom has been paid for the Norwegian)," Duterte told reporters on Thursday morning.

Duterte would not respond directly to questions on who paid ransom for Sekkingstad and joked, "Hindi ko alam saang banko (I don't know which bank)."

Sekkingstad is the only remaining Abu Sayyaf captive from the group of 4 abducted in Samal Island in Davao del Norte in September 2015.

Only one person in that group had been set free, so far – Filipina Marites Flor. Her boyfriend, Robert Hall, and fellow Canadian John Ridsdel were beheaded after the deadline for their ransom payment lapsed in June and April, respectively. The Canadian government is observing a no-ransom policy.

On June 25, Norwegian Ambassador Erik Forner went to see Duterte during the release of kidnap victim Flor. The two leaders talked about negotiating for the release of Sekkingstad.

On Wednesday Duterte sent the 69th Army battalion to Jolo, Sulu, as part of his vow to "crush" the Abu Sayyaf, after the group beheaded its teenage captive that day. – Rappler.com </s> Three Indonesians freed by militant Abu Sayyaf group in Philippines

MANILA, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Three Indonesian fishermen held by Islamic State-linked rebels in the Philippines have been released, a Philippine military spokesman said on Sunday, just hours after the militias freed a Norwegian man after a year-long ordeal.

The Indonesians - identified as Lorence Koten, Teo Doros Kofong, and Emmanuel Arakian - were released by the Abu Sayyaf group on Saturday night at an undisclosed place in Sulu in the Southwest Philippines, said spokesman Major Filemon Tan. They were taken on July 9 this year from the Malaysian state of Sabah, he said.

The Indonesians were set free just hours after the same group notorious for kidnappings, beheadings and extortion released Norwegian captive Kjartan Sekkingstad, who met President Rodrigo Duterte in Davao City on Sunday evening.

Sekkingstad was taken from an upscale resort on Samal island in Davao del Norte along with a Filipina, who has already been freed, and two Canadians, whom the militants later executed.

While it is widely believed that no captives are released by the Abu Sayyaf without the payment of ransom, the Philippine government said it did not pay the group and was unaware of any payment made by other parties for the release of the victims.

"I would like to reiterate that the government maintains the no-ransom policy," Communications Minister Martin Andanar said. Now if there was a third party who made the payment, if it's the family (of those kidnapped), we are not aware of that."

The Philippine military insists the release of the kidnap victims was a result of the ongoing intensified military operations against the Abu Sayyaf, with the assistance of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), one of the two major Muslim rebel groups based in the south of the mainly Catholic nation.

In a media briefing in Davao City, Duterte lauded the efforts of his peace adviser Jesus Dureza, former Sulu Governor Abdusakur Mahail Tan, and MNLF leader Nur Misuari.

Dureza confirmed the release of the Indonesian captives.

Duterte told Sekkingstad and the Norwegian government that justice would be sought for his abduction.

"I am very happy to be alive and free," Sekkingstad said at the briefing.

A new round of peace talks between the Philippine government and the Maoist-led rebels resumed in Norway in August to end nearly five decades of conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people. (Reporting by Enrico dela Cruz and Manuel Mogato; Editing by Eric Meijer and Elaine Hardcastle) </s> National Abu Sayyaf releases kidnapped Norwegian for P30-million ransom

InterAksyon.com

The online news portal of TV5

MANILA - Reports reaching Manila indicated that the Al-Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) released late Friday night their Norwegian kidnap victim Kjartan Sekkingstad at a remote village in Indanan, Sulu.



The area where Sekkingstad was released is one of the sites where government forces have been conducting a massive offensive against the ASG in the past few months, police and military intelligence reports said on Saturday.



A police and military intelligence report seen by journalists in Manila indicated that Kjartan Sekkingstad was released by his captors at around 10:30 p.m. Friday in the vicinity of Brgy. Buanza in Indanan, Sulu.



The intelligence report informed that Sekkingstad was set free after ASG received an estimated PhP30 million in ransom money.



The intelligence report said that the release was facilitated by Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) Commander Tahil Sali.



Sekkingstad was immediately bought to the house of Sulu Governor Sakur Tan, in the middle of an electricity outage.



Sekkingstad, along with Canadians John Risdel and Robert Hall, and Filipina Marites Flor, were snatched in late 2015 while they were on vacation at Oceanview resort in Samal Island in Davao del Norte.



A few weeks after the kidnapping, the ASG demanded ransom for the safe release of their kidnap victims.



The two Canadians were beheaded by the ASG after they failed to receive the ransom money. </s> A Norwegian man freed after almost a year in captivity by the Abu Sayyaf terror group in the Philippines says the experience was “devastating”.

Kjartan Sekkingstad said that he and his fellow captives, two of whom were Canadians who were subsequently beheaded, were treated like slaves.

Sekkingstad was freed on September 17. He was one of four captives seized by the extremist gang at a resort he ran on Samal Island in September 2015.

Sekkingstad said that he was regularly threatened with execution.

Two of his fellow captives, Canadians John Ridsel and Robert Hall, were beheaded earlier this year. A Philippine woman, Marites Flor, was freed in June.

“I am very happy to be alive and free,” Mr. Sekkingstad told reporters following a meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte and Norwegian Embassy officials in Davao City, the president’s hometown. “It’s a wonderful feeling.”

When he arrived in Davao City, the Norwegian was heavily bearded and wearing a camouflage jacket and carrying a backpack that he said had stopped a bullet and saved his life during a clash between troops and militants. He was clean-shaven and wearing fresh clothes when he met the president.

Sekkingstad told reporters upon arriving in Davao City that the Abu Sayyaf militants had forced him and the other captives to act as porters.

He said that after the beheadings began he was told constantly that he would be executed, and survived several clashes between the militants and Philippine troops.

“We were treated like slaves,’’ he said, describing the captivity as “devastating.”

The two Canadians were killed after Canada’s government refused to pay millions of dollars in ransom to the militants, who have sworn allegiance to Islamic State and have earlier links to al Qaeda and have carried out bombings, assassinations and kidnappings for ransom, often ending in murder.

Duterte said recently that 50 million pesos ($1.1 million) had been paid to Abu Sayyaf as ransom for Sekkingstad. Subsequently, the president said that the group wanted even more money. He didn’t elaborate on the source of the payments or how they were made.

Sekkingstad was released September 17 in Jolo, the capital of Sulu, a predominantly Muslim and impoverished island south of Manila, but had to stay there overnight because of bad weather. He was expected to fly to Manila later on September 18. It was unclear if and when he will return to Norway.

Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said that three Indonesian fishermen who had been kidnapped recently by Abu Sayyaf were released September 18. He said he was “unaware if any ransom has been paid.” The Indonesians were flown to the military’s regional command center in western Mindanao island and handed over to Indonesian authorities.

Abu Sayyaf is believed to still hold 11 foreigners and six Filipinos captive, the military said. The group is believed to have about 400 members.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg welcomed the release of Sekkingstad and thanked Duterte and presidential peace adviser Jose Dureza, who negotiated the release, for working to free him.

“This has been a challenging case, and has put an indescribable strain on Mr. Sekkingstad himself and his family and friends,” Solberg said September 18. “The violence committed against innocent people by the Abu Sayyaf terrorist organization can only be met by our condemnation and disgust.”

Abu Sayyaf has come under recent pressure from the Philippine armed forces as Duterte ordered a new offensive against them. The group responded with a deadly bomb attack September 2 in Davao City that killed 15 people and injured dozens more.

Sekkingstad was handed over by his Abu Sayyaf captors to rebels from the larger Moro National Liberation Front, which has signed a peace deal with the Philippine government and helped negotiate his release. On September 18, he was handed over to Philippine authorities, along with three Indonesian fishermen freed separately by the Abu Sayyaf.

Sekkingstad said he survived more than a dozen clashes between Philippine forces and his captors in the lush jungles of Sulu province.

Sekkingstad was kidnapped from a yacht club he helped managed on southern Samal Island on September 21, 2015, along with Canadians Ridsdel and Hall and Hall’s Filipino girlfriend, Marites Flor.

Ridsdel was beheaded in April, and Hall was decapitated in June after ransom deadlines lapsed. When Flor was freed in June, she recounted in horror how the militants rejoiced while watching the beheadings. </s> MANILA, Philippines — Abu Sayyaf extremists on Saturday freed a Norwegian man kidnapped a year ago in the southern Philippines with two Canadians who were later beheaded and a Filipino woman who has been released by the ransom-seeking militants, officials said.

Kjartan Sekkingstad was freed in Patikul town in Sulu province and was eventually secured by rebels from the larger Moro National Liberation Front, which has signed a peace deal with the government and helped negotiate his release, Philippine government officials said.

Sekkingstad, held in jungle captivity since being kidnapped last September, was to stay overnight at the house of Moro National Liberation Front chairman Nur Misuari in Sulu and then meet with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday, said Jesus Dureza, who advises Duterte on peace talks with insurgent groups.

When he spoke on the phone with Sekkingstad, Dureza said the Norwegian expressed his gratitude to Duterte.

A plan to fly the freed hostage out of Sulu, a jungle-clad Muslim region about 950 kilometres (590 miles) south of Manila, was scrapped Saturday because of bad weather, Dureza said.

It was not immediately clear whether Sekkingstad had been ransomed off. Duterte suggested in a news conference last month that 50 million pesos ($1 million) had been paid to the militants, but that they continued to hold on to him. The military said Saturday that relentless assaults forced the extremists to release the hostage.

Sekkingstad fell ill while in captivity, according to an army officer who helped monitor the kidnapping.

“Under the intense pressure of focused military operations, the terrorist kidnap-for-ransom Abu Sayyaf group was constrained to release Sekkingstad, as holding him under custody slows down their continued movement,” said military spokesman Col. Edgard Arevalo.

Military chief Gen. Ricardo Visaya warned the militants to release their other captives, including a Dutch birdwatcher and Indonesian and Malaysian tugboat crewmen, “or suffer annihilation.”

While Duterte has pursued peace talks with Misuari’s group and the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front, he has ordered the military to destroy the Abu Sayyaf, a smaller but more brutal band that the president says aims to establish an Islamic state or caliphate.

“They are no longer hungry for autonomy. They are hungry for a fight to establish a caliphate in Southeast Asia,” Duterte told troops on Saturday, although his predecessors have regarded the militants as a loose collective of bandits.

Sekkingstad was kidnapped from a marina on southern Samal Island on Sept. 21, 2015, with Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall and Hall’s Filipino girlfriend, Marites Flor, sparking a massive land and sea search by Philippine forces.

The Abu Sayyaf demanded a huge ransom for the release of the foreigners, and released videos in which they threatened the captives in a lush jungle clearing where they displayed Islamic State group-style black flags.

Ridsdel was beheaded in April and Hall was decapitated in June after ransom deadlines lapsed. When Flor was freed in June, she recounted in horror how the militants rejoiced while watching the beheadings.

“It’s so painful because I saw them moments before they got beheaded,” Flor told reporters in June in southern Davao city, where she was flown to meet then President-elect Duterte.

“They were watching it and they were happy,” she said of the militants, adding that she did not witness the killings.

Government forces launched a major offensive against the Abu Sayyaf after the beheadings of the Canadians sparked condemnations from then-Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who called on other nations not to pay ransoms if their citizens are abducted to discourage the brutal militants from carrying out more kidnappings.

The Abu Sayyaf has been blacklisted as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the Philippines for deadly bombings, kidnappings and beheadings. Without any known foreign funding, the extremists have relied on ransom kidnappings, extortion and other acts of banditry, and some commanders have pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group partly in the hope of obtaining funds. </s> ASG HOSTAGES. Masked gunmen surround Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) hostages in a jungle setting earlier this year. Video screengrab from SITE Intelligence Group

MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE) – The terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group has released its Norwegian hostage Kjartan Sekkingstad.

The Abu Sayyaf released Sekkingstad at around 2 pm Friday, September 16, in Patikul, Sulu, Chief Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza said in a statement Saturday night, September 17.

"His release from captivity capped months of quiet, patient but determined efforts with the assistance of all sectors," Dureza said.

Dureza said he had a phone conversation with Sekkingstad whose first words to him were, "Thank you to President Duterte."

He said that the men of Moro National Liberation Liberation Front leader Nur Misuari and former Sulu governor Sakur Tan, "and other volunteers" helped facilitate Sekkingstad's release.

"He is now staying overnight at the place of MNLF Chairman Nur Misuari in Barangay Kagay who volunteered to host his stay due to heavy rains and nightfall....I will fly him out of Jolo town tomorrow morning," Dureza added.

Sekkingstad is the last Abu Sayyaf captive from the group of 4 abducted in Samal Island in Davao del Norte in September 2015.

Norway said the release was a "positive development," adding that it was closely monitoring the situation and working with Philippine authorities to bring Sekkingstad to safety.

"According to Philippine authorities, Sekkingstad is now in a relatively safe place," Norway's Foreign Minister Borge Brende said in a written comment to Agence France-Presse.

"We refrain from celebrating until Sekkingstad has been safely handed over to Philippine authorities."

Ransom paid?

Sekkingstad's captors freed him after reportedly receiving a ransom of P30 million ($627,228), according to a source from the intelligence unit of Joint Task Group Sulu.

The source also said that the release was facilitated by the group of MNLF Commander Tahil Sali, and that Sekkingstad was brought to the house of the former Sulu governor while there was a brownout in the area.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines said in a statement on Saturday night that "intense pressure" from pursuing government troops led to Sekkingstad's release.

"Under the intense pressure of focused military operations, the terrorist kidnap-for-ransom Abu Sayyaf Group was constrained to release Sekkingstad as holding him under custody slows down their continues movement," the AFP said.

Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte said P50 million had been paid for the Norwegian's release. On August 25, Duterte said despite the payment of the ransom, Sekkingstad had not yet been released, and that the Abu Sayyaf wanted more money.

"They kept on postponing it [the release] because of the huge sum of money. Millions. 'Yung Norwegian, bayad na 'yon (Ransom has been paid for the Norwegian)," Duterte told reporters last August.

Duterte was supposed to present Sekkingstad in a briefing at the Mindanao Development Authority office in Davao City early Saturday night, according to a Palace media advisory, but the event was cancelled due to bad weather in Sulu.

Filipina Marites Flor had been set free earlier. Her boyfriend, Robert Hall, and Hall's fellow Canadian John Ridsdel were beheaded after the deadline for their ransom payment lapsed in June and April, respectively. The Canadian government is observing a no-ransom policy.

On June 25, Norwegian Ambassador Erik Forner went to see Duterte during Flor's release. The two leaders talked about negotiating for the release of Sekkingstad. – with reports from Agence France-Presse/Rappler.com

$1 = P47.82
Abu Sayyaf frees a Norwegian hostage for a ransom of ₱30 million (US$638,000) and releases three kidnapped Indonesians from Sabah.