Kota Kinabalu: Cross border criminals struck boldly yet again – this time taking a local boat owner hostage and stealing valuables from another boat in waters off Semporna and Lahad Datu, about five nautical miles apart, half hour later on Tuesday. "We received information about the two incidents about five minutes after midnight on Wednesday," State Police Commissioner Datuk Abd Rashid Harun (pic) told a media conference. He said initial investigations showed the kidnapping took place when a speedboat boarded by six men approached the seine fishing boat with 27 crew including its skipper-cum-boat owner at about 9.30pm near Pulau Gaya off Semporna.
ADVERTISEMENT
Four men from the speedboat, described to be white with yellow and green stripes measuring 24-feet long and about five-feet wide with two 75 horsepower engines, boarded the fishing boat which was towing another boat while fishing in the area. The four, three of them said to be armed, then ransacked the boats, taking with them documents, handphones and personal belongings of the crew which comprised a 33-year-old local and 25 Bajau foreigners without valid documents aged between 18 and 60.
"They also took the 39-year-old boat owner, one Ruslan @ Haji Nasir Sarapin, a local Suluk from Lahad Datu , hostage," he said. There was no demand for ransom at press time. Rashid said preliminary inspections also showed that the incident took place within the curfew area and that the boat did not have any permit to be at sea during the curfew period.
ADVERTISEMENT
Inspections also found that the boat was only equipped with the Global Positioning System with no Automatic Identification System and communication equipment recommended by the Malaysian authorities. For the robbery at sea, early findings showed that it took place when a fishing boat with 19 crew were approached by a speedboat carrying seven men in waters near Tunku, Lahad Datu, at about 10pm.
ADVERTISEMENT
Three armed men boarded the fishing boat and took a 15horsepower engine, rice, cooking oil, clothes, handphones, walkie talkie and RM300.They were then believed to have fled towards international waters after robbing the crew comprising eight Indonesians aged between 19 and 50 with passports and expired work permits, and 11 paperless Palauh aged between 18 and 44. "Initial investigations showed that the boat is owned by a company whose 32-year-old fish breeder and his Filipino worker were kidnapped in Kunak in 2014," he said. Inspections also showed that the boat does not have a permit to go out to sea during the curfew period. "We believe the same group is responsible for both cases based on the description of the speedboat and statements gathered from the crew." He said six of the men were described to be wearing normal civilian clothes, with one of when wearing camouflage trousers and they spoke the Filipino Suluk dialect. "The weapons used have been described as M16, M14 and pistol," he said.A record six kidnapping cases have also been reported in the east coast this year alone, among them the three fishermen holding IMM13 documents taken hostage by a group of armed men near Pom-Pom Island / Kulapuan, off Semporna on Sept. 12. Recently State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun lamented that despite umpteen kidnappings since the first Sipadan incident by Abu Sayyaf in 2000, there has not been any "shoot on sight" order carried out on suspicious vessels during the curfew period to show that we mean business. There have also been numerous calls for a ban on pumpboats in Sabah waters since 15 years ago which is the favourite getaway choice of kidnappers who use 75 horsepower engines, but this is also not known to be implemented. Last month an Indonesian skipper of a trawler boat was reported to have been taken hostage by a group of armed men in Kertam waters, off Kuala Kinabatangan, in Sandakan. In July this year, three Indonesians were abducted from a trawler in Lahad Datu waters near Sinakut, about 2.6 nautical miles from shore.The July kidnapping took place within a month of the release of four Sarawakian sailors by Abu Sayyaf gunmen. The four, part of the crew of a tugboat travelling between Tawau and the Philippines, were abducted in the international waters off Ligitan, near Semporna, on April 1.Abu Sayyaf, a group linked to the Islamic State, have become notorious for kidnapping, earning millions of dollars in ransom. The militants regularly abduct foreigners and locals to extort money for their release.In May, the Abu Sayyaf released 14 Indonesian sailors who had been kidnapped in two high-seas raids similar to the abduction of the Malaysians.The kidnappings prompted Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to launch joint patrols in their waters and set up a security hotline.
Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
In April, the Abu Sayyaf beheaded two Canadians after the deadline for paying a ransom of US$6.4 million for each passed.In November last year, they killed a Malaysian, Bernard Then, from Sarawak, who was kidnapped together with a Malaysian woman at a restaurant in Sandakan, but the woman was later freed.