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ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews / 27 Apr) – The body of Canadian kidnap victim John Ridsdel was found in a remote village in Talipao, Sulu this morning.
“Wala naman pong nakita na tama ng bala or artillery sa katawan. Ang SOCO PNP ang kumilatis at naagnas na po ito (No bullet nor artillery wounds were found in the body. The PNP’s Scene of the Crime Operations [SOCO] examined it and it was already decaying),” said Col. Noel Beleran, commanding officer of the Marine Battalion Landing Team 1.
Ridsdel’s body was found earlier by residents of Sitio Tibangaw in the remote village of Gata-Gata in Talipao, he said.
The residents, Beleran said, were unaware of the prior beheading but figured that the body belonged to a kidnap victim and reported the finding to the village head.
The headless body was recorded as having been recovered around 9 a.m. by residents at the vicinity of the mosque in Sitio Tibangaw. This was subsequently turned over to Barangay Chairman Adjudi Adjuraini for proper disposition, the barangay officials were quoted by the Philippine Marines’ 10th Battalion stationed at Mount Talipao as saying.
Adjuraini told MindaNews via text that the body “smelled very bad.”
Beleran said Ridsdel’s body is now at the Camp Navarro Hospital in Zamboanga City for proper disposition.
Ridsdel was one of those abducted by the Abu Sayyaf Group from Samal Island near Davao City Sept. 21 last year. He was executed by his abductors last Monday.
