A Philippine militant group believed responsible for the kidnapping of a Malaysian businessman are now demanding eight million pesos (RM558,000) for his safe release.
The Abu Sayyaf separatist group earlier claimed responsibility for the abduction of 38-year-old Mohd Nazaruddin Saidin, who was kidnapped last month while on a business trip to Jolo in the Phillippines.
The father of six was last seen in the Indanan area of the island, where Abu Sayyaf activity is notoriously high.
The militants were reported to have communicated their demands to the Malaysian embassy in Manila recently, and have increased their demands from their initial ransom of five million pesos.
Abu Sayyaf is an Islamist separatist group based in the southern Philippines, with suspected links to the al Qaeda terrorist network.
Military intelligence there suspects the group to be responsible for a number of terror incidents in the archipelago, including the string of bombings in Jolo last year.
Since 1998, the group has shifted its focus from its separatist ideology towards criminal activities such as murder, kidnappings and piracy.
The group were also behind the year 2000 raids on Sipadan island in Sabah, when it abducted 21 people from a resort there in an initial raid and 13 more in a second.
