Headline of the weekOctober 4th, 2005 by Roy Berman |
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COMMANDER ROBOT A RUTHLESS KIDNAPPER
MANILA, December 9, 2003 (STAR) Abu Sayyaf kingpin Galib Andang, captured in Sulu late Sunday, is a ruthless leader and chief organizer of abductions for the feared kidnap gang.Popularly known as Commander Robot, he was the architect of the much-publicized kidnapping of 21 hostages, including Europeans and other foreigners, in the neighboring Malaysian resort of Sipadan in April 2000.
Armed with machine guns, he and other Abu Sayyaf leaders brought the hostages by speed boat to his base in Jolo and held them there for about a year.
In the end, the hostages were released, reportedly in exchange for millions of dollars in ransom paid by Libya.
Andang is known to be ruthless with his hostages, one of whom — the son of a local doctor — was beheaded after delays in ransom payments.
He had often posed for journalists, spraying fire from his assault rifle in the air, warning the military of serious repercussions if they attacked the group’s hideouts.
Following the Sipadan spree, Andang, believed to be in his 40s, kidnapped a local teenage girl and forced her to marry him.
Commander Robot in action
I know he’s evil, but I just can’t help but giggle when I read that headline.
October 5th, 2005 at 8:26 am
I can’t believe I write for a blog that has a category dedicated to robots!
October 5th, 2005 at 8:32 am
I can’t believe you would consider writing for one that doesn’t.
October 5th, 2005 at 9:20 am
You’re lucky I’m here! This place doesn’t even have a category for “space robots!”
November 24th, 2005 at 9:03 am
[...] I don’t feel particularly nervous about my lack of preparation for the trip, and my lack of any real knowledge about where I’m going. A lot of people say that the Philippines is a dangerous country to travel in, but I think it should be a lot safer ever since they locked up Commander Robot. Is my lack of stress merely the calm before the storm, a lack of human emotions, or simply exhaustion from the dozen or more trips I was forced to make to various Taiwanese offices and burueas over the past three weeks to get my Taiwanese residence visa and reentry permit, so I would actually be able to come back into the country on the return leg of my trip instead of having to live like Tom Hanks in that that silly movie about the airport? [...]