KOTA KINABALU: Ransom paid by Indonesian
authorities in a previous kidnapping case may have emboldened a suspected
Filipino kidnap-for-ransom group to grab five Indonesian fishermen from a
Sandakan-registered trawler in the latest case that occurred in Tambisan Island
waters off Lahad Datu on Thursday, sources told Daily Express.
The kidnappers also released three other
fishermen and let them find their way back to Sabah waters from Philippine
territory for unexplained reason.
The eight including their skipper were
fishing at 8pm when their trawler was approached by a boat with six masked men
who boarded their trawler and took the fishermen and their vessel to southern
Philippine waters, said a government source.
At about 9.10pm on Friday, the trawler was
traced going back to Tambisan waters from the southern Philippine side before
it was intercepted by a Malaysian Marine Police boat.
Inspection of their boat and initial
investigation confirmed only five fishermen had been kidnapped, said the
government source who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorised to speak to the media.
The five have been identified as boat
skipper Arsyad Dahlan, 42, Arizal Kastamiran, 29, La Baa, 32, Riswanto Hayono,
27, and Edi Lawalopo, 53. The three fishermen who were released have been
identified as Abdul Latif, 37, Daeng Akbal, 20, and Pian Janiru, 36.
Eastern Sabah Security Command chief Datuk
Hazani Ghazali confirmed to Daily Express as to the fishermen’s identities.
The unnamed government source said
kidnapping continued because the southern Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf terror
and kidnap group had been receiving the ransom they had been demanding.
A second source, who is close to the issue
and declined to be named, confirmed to Daily Express on Sunday that ransom had
been paid in the previous case.
In that case, the last of the three
Indonesian fishermen kidnapped also in Tambisan Island waters last September
was rescued by the Philippine military in Sulu on Wednesday.
Muhammad Farhan, 27, was rescued at
Barangay (Village) Bato-Bato, Indanan district, the Philippine military’s
Western Mindanao Command spokesman, Major Arvin Encinas, told Daily Express.
The other two hostages, Maharudin Lunani,
48 and Samiun Manieu, 26 were rescued in Old Panamao district, Sulu, on Dec 22
last year.
The Abu Sayyaf and other kidnap-for ransom
groups have been blamed by Malaysian and Philippine authorities for kidnappings
in the Sulu Sea, an area shared by both nations.
Source:
Daily Express – 20 January 2020
By: Zam Yusa, Stefyanie Myla Micheal
By: Zam Yusa, Stefyanie Myla Micheal
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