Terror group with partners active in Sabah: Azis
Published on: Tuesday, January 28, 2020
KOTA KINABALU: Deputy Home Minister Azis Jamman confirmed that members of a Malaysian terror group are in cahoots with the Abu Sayyaf from the southern Philippines.
He said police had first established this in 2018 following the arrests of seven Abu Sayaff men and a Malaysian in separate locations in Putrajaya and places like Tenom, Ranau and Kinarut in Sabah.
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“The authorities are aware of this link after these suspects were detained. The police had then issued a statement that the terrorists were in contact with their partners active in Sabah,” he told FMT.
Bukit Aman Special Branch’s counter-terrorism division had arrested eight men between Oct 30 and Nov 12 in 2018.
The first was a 38-year-old man in Putrajaya, suspected of channelling funds to Malaysian Islamic State militant Akel Zainal in Syria. The second round of arrests involved three Filipinos, allegedly linked to the Abu Sayyaf group.
The last arrest was on Nov 12, 2018, involving a 60-year-old trader who had harboured a wanted militant four days earlier.
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All the suspects are now being held under the Security Offences (Special Measures Act 2012 (Sosma).
“We are now monitoring them and our intelligence units have also redoubled their efforts to identify others still operating in Sabah,” Azis said when met at the Sabah government Chinese New Year open house in Likas here.
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Azis said the threat posed by this group had been brought under control and resulted in no more Malaysians being kidnapped.
However, he said there are still kidnap attempts by the Abu Sayyaf bandits and this had resulted in Indonesian nationals, mostly fishermen, becoming the victims.
Meanwhile, the security forces have thwarted 40 kidnapping attempts in the waters off seven districts in the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone) since 2018, says Deputy Comm Datuk Hazani Ghazali.
The Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) commander said this was due to the close cooperation between the Royal Malaysia Police, Malaysian Armed Forces and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.
DCP Hazani said measures to enhance security by tightening control at risky routes had enabled them to detect the kidnap-for-ransom activities carried out by terrorist groups from the southern Philippines.
“If we were to look back to 2017, there were no abduction cases. There were two cases in 2018 and also two in 2019.
“We have been able to foil several kidnapping attempts since 2018 because when Esscom received information, all our personnel and assets will be deployed, ” he said.
DCP Hazani said since 2000, resorts on the east coast of Sabah have been the target of kidnappers which led to the establishment of Esscom in 2013.
“Curfews were also enforced in the waters off the Esszone to prevent kidnapping while at the same time, security personnel were stationed at the resorts as these were places where abductions were likely to occur, ” he said.
On the abduction of eight Indonesian fishermen by the Abu Sayyaf group on Jan 16 which was at the same area where another three Indonesian fishermen were kidnapped in Tambisan in September, DCP Hazani said intelligence report about the matter was received but they did not expect the incident to happen during the day.
“They (kidnappers) operate near the Philippines international border so they can easily escape with the victims, ” he said adding that the group was assisted by spies who track the victims and presence of the security forces.
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