The police regional director of Region 7 on Wednesday said they had foiled the Abu Sayyaf Group’s incursion in Inabanga, Bohol.

“Whatever their plans, be it kidnapping or to disrupt the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit meetings, we aborted them,” said Chief Supt. Noli Taliño .

Taliño spoke during a meeting on Wednesday afternoon of the Regional Advisory Council for Police Transformation and Development (RACPTD) 7 at the PRO 7 headquarters in Camp Sergion Osmeña Sr. on Osmeña Blvd. here.

Taliño said the cooperation of the Boholano community also helped government troops in neutralizing the ASG in Bohol.

He said members of the community immediately reported to the police the presence of armed men who turned out to be ASG members in Sitio Ilaya, Barangay Napo, Inabanga on April 9. “We are able to immediately verify our initial information and we quickly responded,” he said.

A civilian, particularly a “habal-habal” or motorcycle-for-hire driver also tipped off the police on the presence of suspected ASG members in the hinterlands of Clarin, Bohol on April 22.

“This was a lesson for the Abu Sayyaf. They can’t operate here,” Taliño said.

He said they believe the Abu Sayyaf was planning to disrupt the ASEAN meetings after bomb-making materials were seized from the apartment rented by Supt. Maria Christina Nobleza and her lover Renierlo Dongon.

“It’s a strong possibility, but we aborted them,” he said.

Nobleza, Dongon, his mother and a nephew were intercepted after they attempted to evade a joint police-military checkpoint in the mountains of Clarin, Bohol during the skirmishes between government troops and suspected ASG members.

Among the items found during last Monday night’s raid in Nobleza’s apartment Looc, Panglao, Bohol were a C4 detonating cord, a blasting cap and a blasting cap kit. (Eddie O. Barrita/PNA)