The Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) has confirmed that two Indonesian fishermen were kidnapped in Lahad Datu waters yesterday.
Esscom commander Datuk Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid said the incident occurred at 7.30pm when a group of fishermen was fishing in the Merabung area.
“A fishing trawler with 13 people on board was in the area at about 6.30pm.
“About an hour later, a boat with five masked men armed with long rifles approached the fishing trawler.
“The gunmen stormed the trawler and destroyed the boat’s communications system, and confiscated all handphones and money belonging to the crewmembers,” Wan Abdul said.
The gunmen then grabbed two fishermen, aged 43 and 36, and fled towards to international waters.
About an hour later, the remaining crewmembers came across another fishing boat and sought help.
“One of the crewmembers contacted a friend, who then alerted the Esscom operation centre,” he said, adding that assets were immediately deployed.
On another matter, Wan Abdul confirmed that Esscom was alerted by Philippine authorities about a speedboat they were pursuing in waters near Tawi-Tawi’s Taganak Island in the southern Philippines yesterday.
It is learnt that Malaysian security forces were already on the alert at 6.40pm after being informed of the speedboat by their Filipino counterparts.
The island is located very close to Sandakan, which is about 27 km away.
“We were informed. However, I cannot confirm whether the boat crossed over into Malaysian waters or was involved in the kidnapping (of the two Indonesians).”
Sabah’s east coast is reeling from a series of kidnapping incidents over the past year. The last abduction took place in Kinabatangan waters on Nov 5, when gunmen kidnapped an Indonesian fisherman from a fishing boat.
As the group fled towards international waters, they abducted another Indonesian fisherman from another boat.
On July 18, five Malaysians were abducted in Lahad Datu waters. They are currently being held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group in the southern Philippines.
On Nov 10, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, in a meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, had pledged that his administration will give permission for Malaysian and Indonesian authorities to pursue kidnappers who enter Philippine waters.
The standard operating procedure on the agreement is expected to be ironed out by the foreign ministers of the three countries when they meet in Vientiane, Laos on Nov 22.
Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) commander Datuk Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid confirmed that two Indonesian fishermen were abducted by gunmen near the Merabung area. File pix by MALAI ROSMAH TUAH.
http://www.nst.com.my/news/2016/11/190256/esscom-confirms-yet-another-kidnapping-sabah-waters
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