Three people were abducted off Pom Pom Island last night in the latest such incident in Sabah, according to the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom).
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Khalid said the abduction was perpetrated by a “suspected seven-member Filipino armed group and is believed to have taken the victims across the border toward the southern Philippines island chain of Tawi-Tawi province”.
“I can only confirm”.
Rashid said initial investigation revealed that the fishing trawler with registration number SA2627/5/F and named PUTERI had set off to fish in the waters off Semporna on Saturday at about 4pm, with 16 crew members, including the three who were kidnapped.
The armed men ransacked the trawler and took the men’s bags, wallets and mobile phones, except one belonging to a crew member who managed to contact one of his friends to inform of the incident.
Meanwhile, Sabah police commissioner Datuk Abdul Rashid Harun said they have been notified of the matter and were investigating the report.
It was not expressly stated but it is believed that the latest abduction was the work of the Abu Sayyaf Group, the Muslim terror network operating out of southern Philippines said to be responsible for most of the kidnappings that take place on Sabah’s porous borders.
A military intelligence report however said three Filipino Badjaos were abducted in the Semporna Seas at 10:40 p.m. on September 10. On Thursday, the Esscom carried out sweeping operations against smugglers in the east coast.
Malaysian security forces have been on full alert for people fleeing southern Philippines after its government launched a full scale offensive against the Abu Sayyaf militant group and its affiliates in Sulu.
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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned the Abu Sayyaf group recently that he would eat them “alive” as they were “beyond redemption”.
