Kidnap-for-ransom groups dealt a major blow

KOTA KINABALU: The shooting to death of three kidnappers and capture of two others in Semporna is a major blow to the southern Philippines based kidnap-for-ransom groups which have been tormenting Sabah’s east coast.

Though they have yet to positively identify the five men, police and Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) officials believe that they were among an estimated 23 identified cross border kidnappers wanted by Sabah.

The neutralising of the group might give a respite for the security forces manning Sabah’s east coast coastlines but it is just a matter of time when another group would resurface, security officials said.

Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Abdul Rashid Harun said it would take some time for them to identify the group, as they needed to cross check the identity of the dead as well as interrogate the nabbed suspects.

“We believe they belong to one of the kidnap groups,” he said.

“One of them was wearing a mask. Why was he wearing a mask?

“We are finding out their identity and the crimes,” he told reporters at the Semporna police headquarters yesterday.

He said the two captured kidnappers were being investigated under the Firearms (Increase Penalties) Act and also for kidnapping.

It is widely believed that smaller groups living in the Tawi Tawi chain of islands along the Sabah border were responsible for at least six or seven of the nine robberies and kidnappings this year.

They have been demanding ransom from fishing boat owners of up to two million pesos (about RM200,000) for the release of boat skippers who were mainly Indonesians or localised Filipinos holding the IMM13 immigration pass issued to Filipino refugees.

Some of the victims have returned after private deals were struck.

Sources said that the Tawi Tawibased kidnap for ransom groups seemed to have surfaced after the neutralising of the notorious Maktadil brothers linked to the Abu Sayyaf group earlier this year and the ongoing Philippine military operations against the militant group in Jolo.

Both Philippine and Malaysian intelligence sources indicated that the kidnap groups were localised to Tawi Tawi and were unlikely to be linked to the Abu Sayyaf who are currently on the run but still holding five Malaysians taken from a tugboat off Lahad Datu on July 18.