Malaysian who escaped Abu Sayyaf flown home

A plantation assistant manager who was abducted along with his cousin by suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits last year finally returned to his home in Malaysia Thursday night.

Chong Wei Jie, 25, is now at his family residence in Bukit Pelanduk in Port Dickson, Malaysia’s New Straits Times reported Friday.

“He was flown home from Manila and arrived around 10 p.m. He was then taken to a hospital for a medical checkup before his family brought him to Port Dickson,” the report quoted state police commisioner Datuk Hamza Taib as saying.

Suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits, notorious for their kidnapping activities including of foreigners, abducted Chong and his cousin Chong Wei Fei, 33, last Nov. 13 while they were at an oil palm plantation in Felda Sahabat near Tambisan in Lahad Datu.

The group took the two to Jolo by boat and held them captive.

Wei Jie managed to escape and was found on a highway in Pasil village in Indanan town in Sulu last Tuesday.

However, he told police his cousin had died due to illness as early as April 8. — KBK, GMA News