Two Indonesian fishing boats with 12 Indonesian crewmembers have been apprehended in the southern Philippines as one of the navy ships searched the area to locate Sunday's abducted foreign nationals.
Both the fishing vessels were intercepted and apprehended Tuesday afternoon for poaching off the southern Philippine island of Tawi-tawi, with forged documents and six crewmen for each boat, the Philippine military public information office chief Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Lucero told reporters Wednesday.
The arrested Indonesians are presently under the custody of the Philippine Coast Guard, Lucero said.
In another development, Lucero blamed the porous border in the south and the Navy's lack of facilities in the military's continued failure to identify the location of the kidnappers and their foreign captives.
Two Malaysians and one Indonesian were abducted Sunday on the sea border between Malaysia and the Philippines, and the Philippine navy officials confirmed Tuesday that the rebel Abu Sayyaf members are behind the kidnapping case.
However, Lucero said Wednesday the military could not say with certainty that it was indeed the Abu Sayyaf, which carried out the latest kidnapping.
Philippine and Malaysian vessels are patrolling the common border waters in search of the victims.