Kidnappers shot dead in waters off Sabah
K UN AK : Security forces shot dead two people believed to be involved in a kidnap-for-ransom syndicate in waters off Boheyan island, near here, yesterday.
In the 10.45pm incident, the two men, believed to be in their 50s, were on board a yellow pump boat.
They tried to flee when confronted by police during Op Gasak at Kampung Kunak Tiga here.
A team led by state Internal Security and Public Order department head Assistant Commissioner Mohd Nasaruddin M. Nasir pursued the men and ordered them to stop the boat.
The suspects, however, opened fire and the police returned fire in self-defence, killing the assailants.
Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) commander Datuk Hazani Ghazali said the authorities recovered two revolvers, a .22 and a .38; seven .22 bullets; one .38 bullet, five empty casings and a katana.
“Both men did not have identity papers and are believed to be lackeys for a kidnap-for-ranson syndicate monitoring the movements of fishermen,” he said during a press conference here yesterday.
In a separate operation, Esscom seized a pump boat believed to be used in the kidnapping of two Indonesian fishermen off Semporna waters on Sept 11.
The victims, Samsul and Osman, in their 30s, were spirited away to a neighbouring country.