Severed head transferred to Manila for DNA testing

This file image made from undated militant video, shows Canadians Robert Hall, left, and John Ridsdel, right. Police found a severed head in the southern Philippines on Monday, June 13, 2016, and are examining whether it belonged to Canadian hostage Robert Hall, who is believed to have been beheaded by Abu Sayyaf militants after a ransom deadline passed, officials said. Ridsdel was beheaded in April. (Militant Video via AP Video, File)

The severed head found in Jolo, Sulu hours after the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) announced it had killed its Canadian national hostage Robert Hall has been brought to Manila for DNA testing, police said Tuesday.

Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory Director Chief Supt. Emmanuel Aranas said in a DZBB report that the decapitated head believed to be Hall’s was flown to Manila early Tuesday morning and was brought to a mortuary in Pasay City.

Aranas said Crime Lab members went to the mortuary to get a specimen for forensic examination and to confirm if it indeed belonged to Hall through DNA testing.

He said the PNP has informed the Canadian Embassy of the discovery.

Some five hours after the rebel group confirmed the beheading of Hall, Jolo Police found a decapitated head of a Caucasian man inside a plastic bag around 9 p.m. Monday on Sanchez Street beside the Carmelite Cathedral in Jolo.

READ: Abus mock Duterte, behead Canadian | Head found in Jolo, Sulu hours after Abu Sayyaf announced Canadian’s beheading

Hall was the second Canadian the ASG beheaded since it took hostage four people, including a Filipino and Norwegian national, on Samal Island September last year.

The rebel group beheaded Hall after the ransom deadline expired at 3 p.m. Monday. IDL