ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 01 Dec) – Government soldiers hunting down members of the Abu Sayyaf had tumbled on a marijuana field allegedly owned by the al-Qaeda-linked militant group in the southern Filipino island of Jolo, officials announced on Friday.
Officials said the soldiers discovered the illegal plantation on a mountain village in Maimbung town this week. “The illegal marijuana plantation is owned by the Abu Sayyaf,” said Brigadier-General Ruben Rafael, commander of an army anti-terror task force in Jolo island.
Rafael said troops destroyed more than 700 fully-grown marijuana plants. He said the Abu Sayyaf was selling illegal drugs and uses the money to finance its violent activities.
Soldiers were tracking down leaders of the Abu Sayyaf and two Jemaah Islamiya bombers in Jolo.
The military said the Abu Sayyaf, led by its chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani, is coddling JI’s Dulmatin and Patek, blamed by Jakarta as behind the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 mostly Australian holiday-makers.
Washington offered as much as $10 million reward for the capture of Dulmatin and another $5 million for Janjalani’s head and $1 million bounty for Patek.
President Gloria Arroyo also offered up to P100 million bounties for the capture of senior Abu Sayyaf leaders, dead or alive. (Mindanao Examiner)
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