After three months in captivity, elite police forces rescued on Friday night two foreign businessmen from the clutches of their Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) captors in a raid in Sumisip town in Basilan.

Chief Insp. Edwin Placio, deputy chief of the Basilan police, said the ASG kidnappers were caught by surprise, forcing them to leave the victims identified as Michael Tan and Oscar Lu.

“There were no reported firefight, the victims were abandoned," said Placio.

Chief Supt. Bienvenido Latag, acting director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) police, said the operation was carried out by intelligence operatives and members of the elite Special Action Force (SAF) at around 8:30 p.m. Friday in Barangay Binembengan in Sumisip town.

Latag disclosed that the operation was a result of the confirmed intelligence reports based on a tip-of regarding the whereabouts of the victims and their captors.

“The operation was a result of the constant pressure and combat operations against the abductors,” said Latag.

Tan and Lu were kidnapped along with Filipino worker Mark Singson when gunmen raided a plywood factory in Maluso town, also in Basilan, in November last year.