Gunmen grab three fishermen
Raided: The Semporna-based fishing trawler Puteri was brought back by the remaining 13 crewmen.
KOTA KINABALU: Filipino gunmen slipped through cracks in the security cordon off Sabah’s east coast and kidnapped three fishermen around the tourist resort island of Pom Pom in Semporna.
The latest kidnapping came just as the Filipino forces are bearing down on fleeing Abu Sayyaf gunmen in its military operation in the terror group’s stronghold of Jolo Island.
The fishermen, including the skipper, were taken by seven masked gunmen who raided their trawler and robbed the 16-man crew onboard of their money, handphones and other valuables.
During the 10.40pm incident on Saturday, the Semporna-registered Puteri was anchored in the waters off Pulau Pom Pom and Pulau Gaya when the gunmen, armed with M16 rifles and pistol, pulled up alongside their boat.
Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Abdul Rashid Harun said the gunmen ordered the crew to lie down before robbing them.
The Suluk- and Bajau-speaking pirates also assaulted one of the crew who tried to hide his face with a piece of cloth as well as the three men as they were forced into their boat, which is fitted with 75HP engines.
The map of the waters off Pulau Pom Pom.
The crew returned to Semporna and their vessel owner lodged a police report at 12.20am yesterday.
Police have identified the three victims as skipper Masurin, in his 50s, and crew Loloi bin Alpin and Sami, both in their 30s. All are Filipino Bajau.
Malaysian security forces have been maintaining their defence along the east coast of Sabah neighbouring the Tawi Tawi chain of islands since a series of kidnappings.
Security forces on both sides of the border are not sure how these armed cross-border kidnap gangs continue to operate as they go on the run.
A Filipino official said there was a possibility that notorious Abu Sayyaf sub commander Al Habsi Misaya, who is believed to have fled Jolo to the Tawi Tawi islands, might have ordered the kidnapping.
On July 9, three Indonesian fishermen working for a Lahad Datu-based fishing trawler were grabbed by gunmen off Dent Haven waters in Lahad Datu, the same place where five Malaysian sailors were snatched from their tugboat less than a fortnight later.
All eight are now believed to be in the hands of Abu Sayyaf gunmen in Jolo.
Pom Pom resort was also the scene of a kidnapping in November 2013 when Taiwanese Chang An Wei, 59, was taken.
Her husband Hsu Li Min, 57, was killed during the abduction attempt. Chang was released after 36 days in captivity.
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