Esscom continuously assessing situation in Esszone
Published on: Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: The Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) has continuously conducted various action plans to ensure safety in the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone).These included conducting intensive patrols in strategic locations in Sandakan, Lahad Datu and Semporna, station vessels equipped with radars as sea basing in areas between Sandakan and Lahad Datu and Lahad Datu and Tawau. This was revealed by Col. Idris Borhan in his talk on security in Sabah's east coast in conjunction with the Matta Sabah Chapter Industry Dialogue Session held at the Pacific Sutera, here, Tuesday. He said they have also imposed the use of Automated Identification System on boats and stationed Special Forces to combat cross border crimes, including kidnapping elements. "We know they (kidnap-for-ransom groups) have informers here and we are doing us best to identify and eliminate them," he said without elaborating.
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He said apart from that, they also engage in informing sharing with their counterparts to curb cross border crimes. "From time to time we study our action plans based on the situation, and these are executed in the process to make Esszone safe, thus, there should no fear of going about ones daily routine," he said. He further stressed that the situation in the Esszone is safe for the people including tourists to visit, provided that they inform the police of their whereabouts. "Inform police of your plans, engage registered tour operators, try to get tour boats which have Automated Identification System and communication equipment which are linked to Esscom so that they can inform us in case of any emergency," he said.
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His assurance echoed the earlier statement by Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu who was quoted as saying that there is no serious threat reported in the Esszone, currently. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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Meanwhile, during the dialogue, it was noted that for 21 months no kidnapping incidents had taken place in the east coast off Sabah waters, until Sept 11 this year, where the kidnapping of two Indonesian fishermen occurred at Pulau Gaya off Semporna. A ransom demand for RM4 million has since been made by the Filipino militant group. – Sherell Jeffrey
