Three nations monitoring the kidnap
Published on: Monday, September 17, 2018
Putatan: The defence ministers of Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines will be working closely to fully address the recent kidnapping of two Indonesian fishermen by a kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) group in Sabah waters off Semporna's Pulau Gaya on Sept. 11.Assuring this, Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu said they decided at a recent meeting in Manila on joint cooperation as a tripartite effort to tackle the kidnapping, the first in Sabah, this year."We discussed this case two days ago and decided to intensify our joint efforts and cooperation in addressing the case.
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"The respective militaries and security forces are currently making efforts and doing a joint patrol as part of the agreed cooperation," he said.Sabu, who is also founding president of Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), said this to reporters after opening a Charity Amanah Hi-Tea and a Closed Dialogue at a hotel here on Sunday.The main objective of the event was to raise funds in setting up an office for Amanah Sabah in Inanam.Last Wednesday, the paper quoted Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Omar Mammah said the two kidnap victims were identified as a 40-year-old skipper, Samsul Saguni and a 35-year-old assistant Usman Yunus.
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He said the fishing boat had a licence to operate within the curfew hours in the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone). Omar said the two victims were with two other fishermen and they had just docked on Pulau Gaya when a pump boat approached them at 12.30am.
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Omar was also reported as saying that the abductors spoke in Suluk and were believed armed with M16, according to one of the crew who was hiding with another in a compartment in front of the boat.On any contact with the kidnappers, Mohammad said he will inform any news development on the case soon as the military has the information. So far, no ransom demand had been made by the abductors.On Saturday, Home Deputy Minister Datuk Azis Jamman was reported as saying that Malaysia has always worked together with her counterparts, especially Indonesia and the Philippines in which the co-operation exists no only when (kidnap and cross-border crime) incidents happen.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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