Birdwatchers: Visit the southern Philippines at your peril -- Crooks at work

Birdwatchers? Or, hapless treasure hunters?

Two Europeans kidnapped in Mindanao in 2012 and taken to Jolo Island to be ransomed were birdwatchers visiting the southern Philippines because they hoped to add a sighting of the rare Sulu hornbill to their life lists.

One escaped two years later after a knife fight with his captors; the other is still missing.

Their abductors were the same terrorist gang that last week executed Calgarian John Ridsdel. The Abu Sayyaf group, its allegiance pledged to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, relies on tourist ransoms for much of its funding.

Despite this Islamist insurgency, which has raged for decades in the country’s south, the government tourist office’s slogan — “It’s more fun in the Philippines” — seems to be working: the number of visitors is up about 20 per cent so far this year.  (more...)

Visit the southern Philippines at your peril

Don't cross the boys in the hood:

Golden Lily Loot, Nazis, White Supremacists and Islamists

Darkness in the Vaults