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Manila: The Philippine police admitted on Friday that a ransom of at least 5 million pesos (Dh414,721) was paid to free a television news crew kidnapped in the south of the country and accused a local mayor of pocketing most of it.
Alvarez Isnaji, a mayor on the remote southern island of Jolo, had been one of the negotiators in talks to release Ces Drilon, a well-known journalist, and her crew.
Police said the kidnappers had links to the Abu Sayyaf, a notorious Islamist militant group, but said they were not core members of that organisation as was previously suspected.
"There was an initial payment of 5 million pesos but only 2 million pesos went to the kidnappers and the rest was kept by the mayor," said Avelino Razon, the national police chief.
He said Drilon's family paid the money. On Thursday, police filed criminal charges against Isnaji and his son for the kidnapping.
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