By Ronron
May 11, 2007
Combined police and military operatives seized on Friday morning the four children of suspected Indonesian terrorist Dulmatin at an alleged safehouse of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) in the southern island province of Tawi-tawi.
Lt. Col. Ariel Caculitan, spokesman of the Philippine Marine Corps (PMC), identified the kids as Adiba, 9; Osama, 7; Adija, 5; and Musaiba, 2, but could not immediately say about their gender and citizenship.
The four were found when elements of the Philippine Marines, Philippine Navy, and Philippine National Police (PNP) raided at around 5:30 am yesterday the alleged ASG and JI safehouse in Barangay Bacung, Simunol Island in Tawi-tawi.
“The kids are now under the care of the military authorities in the area and they will be brought to Zamboanga City. They will be given due care and attention by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, considering that they are minors,” Caculitan said.
“We respect that these minors be given due attention and that they should not be treated like terrorists,” he added.
Caculitan said he has no immediate information if somebody was taking care of the four kids at the time they were seized.
But he said the raiding team found an M16 rifle inside the alleged safehouse.
“We don’t want to confirm or deny the presence of Dulmatin in the area in view of the ongoing efforts to locate him. That is something internal to us,” Caculitan said.
He said local officials helped authorities in locating the whereabouts of the kids, although he has no available information about the owner of the house.
Asked if it is already confirmed that the kids are those of Dulmatin, Caculitan replied: “These are reports coming out from the field and I think it is already validated that they are the children of Dulmatin.”
Pressed on how they reached such conclusion, he said: “Our intelligence operatives should not be taken lightly. Of course, there were questions or proper investigations that have been conducted to verify if they are confirmed, or that they are really the children of Dulmatin.”
Dulmatin is among the suspected JI bombers that have flown and hid in the country after masterminding the Bali bombing in 2002. The US government has offered a reward of $10 million for his capture or neutralization.
He and fellow bomber Umar Patek were believed to have sought refuge from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Central Mindanao before fleeing towards Sulu island further south.
In October last year, the wife of Dulmatin and their two children were also seized by authorities in Patikul, Sulu. The three have since been deported.
Defense Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane, Jr. said that while there may be no charges filed against the four children, their capture will benefit the intelligence community.
“At least, if the family is there, then the man is still there around,” he said in a separate interview./DMS
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