Gunmen abduct duo in S'kan
Published on: Friday, May 15, 2015
Sandakan: A 10-month peace and security in the east coast was shattered when four armed gunmen staged a daring kidnapping, this time in the mainland, and made off with two hostages from a popular seafood restaurant in Sandakan on Thursday night.The gunmen, one of them armed with an automatic rifle with ammunition strapped across his chest, and another brandishing a pistol, swooped into the Ocean King Restaurant, located by the sea in Pasir Putih, about 20-miniute drive from Sandakan town, on a speedboat, taking diners totally by surprise.In the raid which was made in less than one hour into the just extended dusk-to-dawn curfew, the gunmen who were wearing military fatigues did not fire a single shot but sent everyone running helter-skelter when they barged in.ADVERTISEMENT They grabbed the restaurant's woman co-owner, Thien Nyuk Fun, 50, from Sandakan, and a patron who was dining there with his wife and two others at the time.Police have identified him as Bernard Then, 39, from Sarawak who works as an electric consultant in Cambodia. State Police Commissioner Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman said police rushed to the scene after being alerted of the incident at about 7.45pm, adding that CCTV footage obtained at the scene showed that the incident took place at about 7.26pm.According to Jalaluddin, early investigations showed that the men came in a boat and went up the staircase on the back portion of the premises before heading straight to the man and the woman.ADVERTISEMENT The gunmen who did not wear masks were dressed in camouflage attire and one of the men had a chain of bullets strapped over his shoulder, he said. The restaurant's business partner, Chung Yun Thiam, 60, said the gunmen hustled both the man and woman, who is his business partner, into the boat and sped off into the dark.
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"She was sitting outside the kitchen while the other man was seated at a table with his wife and another woman and having dinner with them when suddenly these men barged in and grabbed Thien and the man," he recalled. He said it happened in less than a minute and that no shots were fired. It was learnt that the restaurant, which has about 10 tables, had less than 100 customers at the time incident took place. "Everyone started to scream and run when the men appeared," he said, adding that the gunmen did not go near the cash register where Thien's son was standing. "There was a few thousand ringgit in the cash register but they did not go near it, instead they went straight for Thien, who is my sister-in-law, and that man," he said, adding that he believed they are after ransom money. The kidnapping comes after a 10-month lull, beginning July 12 last year, during which time the police, army and navy enforced a 12-hour curfew to stem cross border crime and foreign incursions in the east coast.The curfew covers the waters off six districts, namely Sandakan, Kinabatangan, Lahad Datu, Kunak, Semporna and Tawau.The 7pm to 5am curfew order was recently extended from May 2 to May 17. Jalaluddin on Wednesday, however, said they will discuss the effectiveness of the curfew order in light of several cases which occurred during curfew hours.Last week there was an alleged sighting of seven masked men with firearms in an estate in Kinabatangan.This came after police launched a manhunt for seven foreigners who they believe could shed some light into two shooting incidents in Sukau, Kinabatangan. On April 13, Tung Sang Plantation manager Yuen Wing Wah, 65, was shot dead and Danny Wong Chik Hong, 34, seriously injured by two gunmen who fled with the payroll. Four days later, a 50-year-old sundry shop operator, was also shot by a hitch hiker turned robber while on the way back to the estate on April 17. Five other accomplices were also allegedly present during the heist.Prior to the curfew the State faced a troubled first six months in 2014 in terms of security, beginning with the abduction of a 29-year-old female Chinese tourist, Gao Hua Yuan, a student from Shanghai and a 40-year-old Filipina female resort worker, Marcy Dayawan, at the Singamata Adventures Reef and Resort off Semporna April 2 by a group of seven armed men.Gao was rescued by Malaysian authorities in May and was sent to her country of origin on May 31.This was followed by the abduction of a 34-year-old Chinese national fish farm manager Yang Zai Lin by five men armed with M16 rifles in Balik Pulau close to Silam in Kunak on May 6. He was only released from captivity on July 10.On June 16, another cage fish breeder, 32-year-old Chan Sai Chiun, from Ipoh, Perak and a Filipino worker were abducted by two armed men at the caged fish farm in Kg Air Sapang, some 10km from Kunak town.Chan was released on Dec 10, after his wife lobbied tooth-and-nail to secure his freedom. The last straw came on July 12, when heavily armed men shot and killed a 32-year-old policeman, Cpl Ab Rajah Jamuan, and kidnapped police Constable Zakiah Aleip at a resort in Pulau Mabul in Semporna. Zakiah was released from captivity six months later on May 7 this year. All these kidnappings, until now, were staged in resorts and islands off the mainland.Questions were raised over these incidents considering that there was supposed to be tight security with the formation of the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) and the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone) in 10 districts along the East Coast region following the incursion by Sulu gunmen from the Southern Philippines in Kg. Tanduo, Lahad Datu in 2013.Meanwhile, Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) Commander Datuk Abdul Rashid Harun and Sandakan Police Chief ACP Zabidi Md Zain were also at the scene of the latest kidnapping. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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Jalaluddin said witnesses and workers of the restaurant were gathered by police to have their statements taken.He said enforcement agencies, involving the police, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), General Operations Force and the Army, including helicopters from the MMEA and navy, have been deployed in an all-out operation to trace and intercept the suspects at the border.