Sarawak police confirm receiving report on alleged kidnapping of Malaysians by TNI

KUCHING: Sarawak police have confirmed receiving a report on Dec 12 pertaining to the alleged kidnapping of five Malaysians by members of the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) in the Wong Rangkai forest near the Serian-Kalimantan border.

Police Commissioner Datuk Azman Yusof said, following the report lodged by three of the five Malaysians at the Serian police station after their release, police were now awaiting a report of an investigation being conducted by the Sarawak Land and Survey Department.

“The findings are to ascertain if these five men had carried out lumbering activities on the Malaysian or Indonesian side of the border and expected to be known in the next few days,” he told Bernama here yesterday.

He also confirmed that they had been taken to the Indonesian command post in Sg Enteli across the Kalimantan border.

A local newspaper yesterday reported that five Malaysian men, aged between 15 and 64, were kidnapped in the forest near Kampung Danau Melikin, about 400 metres from the Serian-- Kalimantan border on Dec 11.

It was reported that the Malaysians were held up by several armed men dressed in military fatigues who claimed they had cut down trees in the forest area and forced them to drive across the Kalimantan border.

However, the Malaysians were freed the following day after tough negotiations between the commander of the Third Malaysian Infantry Brigade based here and a military representative from the Indonesian consulate- general here. — Bernama