Indian escapes captors in Philippines

Posted on Aug 11, 2012 in Top News | 0 comments

An Indian national reported kidnapped in the Philippines nearly 14 months ago escaped his militant Islamist captors Friday, police said.

Sulu provincial police Senior Supt. Antonio Freyra, Sulu said Biju Kolara Veettil, 37, got away from the Abu Sayyaf members while they were pre-occupied preparing breakfast, the Philippine news Web site MindaNews reported.

Freyra said Veettil reached safety in Patikul about 4 a.m.

Veettil, an operations manager at a garment factory in Kuwait, was kidnapped at gunpoint June 22, 2011 while he and his Filipino wife were visiting his in-laws in Patikul.

The Indian newspaper The Hindu reported police had said several months ago that Veettil had been killed.

The Asian Age reported Veettil, who is from Moodady in India’s Kerala state, has been in touch with family members by phone and also has spoken to Indian official about returning to India.

The newspaper said his wife Eleena and their two children, Arjun, 8, and Ajay, 5, had joined him at the police headquarters.

Copyright 2012 by United Press International