PNP: Assistant of Abu Sayyaf leader Mundi Sawadjaan nabbed in Zamboanga City

(Eagle News)–The Philippine National Police announced on Monday, Sept. 28, the arrest of an alleged assistant of Abu Sayyaf leader Mundi Sawadjaan.

In a press conference, PNP Chief Camilo Cascolan said Hashim Saripada, also known as Ibnu Kashir Saripada, was arrested by operatives of the Regional Intelligence Unit of the Police Regional Office 9 and the 84th Special Action Company of the Special Action Force at 6:30 a.m. in Barangay Recodo in  Zamboanga City on Sunday.

Saripada was known to have assisted Sawadjaan in the Sulu bombings, Cascolan said.

Cascolan said the two were said to have prepared the IED detonated by an Indonesian couple at the Mt. Carmel Cathedral in Jolo, Sulu on January 17, 2019.

Saripada was also the subject of a warrant of arrest for multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder, Cascolan said.