Two More In Sabah Kidnapped From Their Sleep

Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) director-general Datuk Mohammad Mentek believed the abduction of a fish breeder and a worker at a fish in cages breeding centre in Kampung Sapang Air in Kunak yesterday was the work on an "inside man".

This, he said, was based on the findings that the criminals knew the area very well. "It is an isolated area, surrounded by islands. Only those who had been at the place for a long time would know the condition at the centre," he told reporters today.

themalaysianinsider.com

He said soon after being informed of the abduction case, Esscom ordered several assets to be sent to places identified as exit routes for the suspects involved. "But, the suspects could have used alternatives routes that they were able to escape, and believed to be in a neighbouring country now," he added.

themalaysianinsider.com

Mohammad said preliminary investigation also revealed that the modus operandi of yesterday's abduction was similar to the one which happened at Pulau Baik, Lahad Datu, last May 6.
"Both groups used the workers to look for the owners and how they (abductors) entered and left the fish breeding centres was similar," he added.

A fish breeder, who was abducted by two men, shouted at the abductors to leave his wife alone before he was taken away. "Don't disturb my wife. I will follow you," Chan Sai Chiun, 32, told the two men who abducted him from Kampung Air Sapang, 20Km from Kunak town, early Monday.

Chan’s wife, Chin Paek Nyuen,40, said she heard her husband telling the abductors who broke into bedroom also occupied by their two-year-old daughter. “I heard dogs barking and after on checking to see what happened, I saw two armed men wearing masks holding my husband.

“Shocked, I ran into the bedroom and they tried to breakdown the door. I heard my husband telling them not to disturb me and that he will follow them. On hearing this, the abductors fled,” she said when met at a fish farm in Kunak today." The abductors who fled with her husband and a worker also stole several items including a television set and a boat engine.

Police have launched a hunt for the Filipino gunmen and their two victims as the east coast of Sabah reeled over a third kidnapping within three months. Sabah CID chief Sr Asst Comm Omar Mammah said they were unable to verify if the Filipino victim identified as Maslan had managed to escape from the abductors.

"We have got no information on it and we believe he is still being held by the abductors,’’ he said at the press conference here on Monday following the 12.45am kidnapping of Maslan and his fish farm operator Chan Sai Chiun, 32, at Kampung Sapang in Kunak about 60km from here. Omar said that they believe the gunmen had fled across the border to southern Philippines with the hostages though mopping up operations were being done by security forces in the area.

Despite the government throwing a tight security net along the eastern coastal areas of Sabah, armed men have struck again. It is the third abduction case in the east coast of Sabah this year.

freemalaysiatoday.com

This time a caretaker and a worker of Suluk descent were abducted from a fish farm by two armed men in Kampung Sapang, west of Pulau Timbun Mata here early today.

freemalaysiatoday.com

Chan Sai Chiun, 32, from Perak, and a man identified only as Mazlan, who is in his 20s, were taken at about 12.40am from the fish cage farm owned by Davel Bay.

Armed with rifles, two masked men sneaked under the cover of darkness into the workers quarters of the fish farms and grabbed the two who were sleeping in their rooms, according to sources.

They said that Chan and Maslan were shoved into a 40HP speedboat where two more accomplices were apparently waiting in another boat.

It is understood that a worker identified only as Maslan jumped off the speedboat of the gunmen while the whereabouts of fish breeder Chan Sai Chiun from Perak still unknown.

Maslan is believed to made his escape as the boat was speeding off and swam ashore to lodge a police report.

The gunmen, believe to be Filipinos, fled across the border to southern Philippines in a speed boat. The Philippines authorities have been alerted while Malaysian security forces are continuing to comb the area.

Initial police investigations revealed that the gunmen are believed to be members of the Abu Sayyaf Group.

themalaysianinsider.com