Jordanian journalist Baker Atyani. AP
MANILA, Philippines—Although police authorities have not yet established whether Jordanian journalist Baker Abdulla Atyani and his two other companions were indeed kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf, a Philippine National Police spokesman said Monday investigators didn’t find any indication suggesting they were taken against their will, adding that they might have just pursued their intention to interview the bandit group for a documentary.
“Seemingly they (Jordanian news team) pressed ahead with their plan to meet the Abu Sayyaf personalities,” Senior Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr. told reporters, pointing out that Atyani has a record of meeting with international terrorists, including Osama bin Laden.
At this point, police considers Atyani, cameraman Ramelito Vela and audioman Rolando Letrero still “missing,” Cerbo said.
The team had disappeared since June 12 after they allegedly left their hostel and boarded a multicab. The team had not contacted authorities since Tuesday, Sulu provincial police chief, Senior Superintendent Antonio Freyra earlier said.
He said people should also consider the sensitivity of the group Atyani planned to interview.
“Ito ay mahirap kausapin . . . Ito ay mga taong hindi mo makakausap sa restaurant lang or sa opisina lang…pupuntahan mo ito. Kung ito may itinuloy nila dapat kinosidera nila itong mga kakausapin nila ay pinaghahanap din ng batas. So that explains, maybe, the reason why . . . kung bakit walang connection,” Cerbo said [you can’t simply interview the members of this group . . . you cannot simply talk to them in a restaurant or in an office. You have to go to them. If they indeed pressed ahead as they planned, they should consider that their subject is being hunted down by authorities. So that explains, maybe, why they have not made any contact to authorities],” Cerbo said.
He said earlier reports indicated that the group wanted to meet with Yasser Igasan, the spiritual leader of the Abu Sayyaf group.
Citing previous experiences, the spokesman said that a group usually reveals itself to say that they have in custody their victims whose freedom would be in exchange of something.
But police are not exactly clueless, he said. I am speaking at the level of the National Headquarters and I’m sure our people on the ground [have] leads, they have gathered enough information . . . intelligence reports that they are working on,” he said in Filipino.
A Crisis Management Committee, Cerbo said, has been created to specifically orchestrate all the resources available from the police and military to recover the missing team.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda earlier confirmed that Atyani is in the custody of the Abu Sayyaf in Jolo, but added that it is yet to be determined if they were, indeed, being held hostage by the group.