KOTA KINABALU: The Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) has confirmed the kidnapping of two fishermen in waters off Kinabatangan on Saturday morning.
They were kidnapped from their fishing boats in the east coast waters off Kuala Kinabatangan, located close to the Philippines, about 11am and 11.45am respectively.
Esscom commander Datuk Wan Bari Wan Abdul Khalid said the kidnappings happened three nautical miles apart in Kertam waters, some 15 nautical miles from the Kinabatangan river.
It was reported that there were many fishing vessels at the area where the victims were kidnapped.
Wan Bari said in the first incident , a speedboat carrying five gunmen headed towards a fishing boat at the said area and took its 52-year-old skipper, leaving two crewmen behind.
Before fleeing towards international waters, the gunmen grabbed another skipper some three nautical miles away from the location where the first skipper was abducted.
There were three other persons, including the victim’s 10-year-old son, on the boat.
Wan Bari said they only got information on the incidents about 1pm and received further details after the remaining crew of the vessels reached Sandakan jetty about 6.40pm on Saturday.
The kidnappers also took with them all communication equipment, including GPS system from the fishing vessels.
“We do not know who carried out the latest abductions nor do we know where they may have been taken to. But we know it is a form of business for the kidnappers,” the Esscom commander added.
Cross-border kidnappings by Filipino gunmen continued to take place despite the setting up of Esscom in March 2013, putting the security body under heavy criticism.
This is the seventh kidnapping incident along the east coast of Sabah this year.
On September 27, a group of kidnappers abducted a local fishing boat owner in the waters off Semporna, and robbed another fishing boat in Tungku in the waters off Lahad Datu before fleeing.
On September 10, three fishing boat crew members were reported to have been kidnapped from nearby Pom Pom Island off Semporna.
The owner of the fishing trawler claimed that gunmen, believed to be Filipinos, charged at their vessel at gunpoint and took with them three crew members, including the boat captain, before fleeing in a speedboat towards southern Philippines.
Two months prior to the incident, five Malaysian sailors were believed to have been kidnapped after the tugboat they were sailing in was found abandoned in Dent Haven waters off Lahad Datu.
On April 15, four of 10 Indonesian crewmen on board the TB Henry tugboat were abducted by armed men near Tawi-Tawi Island.
Moments after the 6.30pm incident happened, the six crew members were rescued by Malaysian security forces when their boat entered Malaysian waters.
On April 2, four Sarawakians were grabbed from the MV Massive 6 tugboat off Pulau Ligitan by armed masked men as they were returning to Tawau after delivering timber cargo to Manila.
The four men from Sibu were released after being held captive for 37 days by their Abu Sayaff captors.
Meanwhile, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to discuss possible joint security operations with Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Thursday, in a bid to stop the kidnappings along the two countries’ sea border.
The Abu Sayyaf is a loose network of militants formed in the southern Philippines in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network. The group has earned millions of dollars from kidnappings-for-ransom.
Military sources say the Abu Sayyaf are currently holding a Dutch hostage, five Malaysians, two Indonesians and four Filipinos in their jungle stronghold.
The militants beheaded two Canadian hostages earlier this year, after failing to collect a ransom.
While the Abu Sayyaf’s leaders have in recent years pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, analysts say it is mainly focused on a lucrative kidnapping business rather than religious ideology.