Second attack in Sabah waters

Strangely enough, the men armed with M16 rifles only took a bag of ikan bilis worth RM350. 

LAHAD DATU: A second armed attack, days after a kidnapping here, has caught the police and security authorities, in the midst of a major search and rescue mission, off guard.

Police confirmed that they had received a report that a group of seven heavily armed men raided a fish landing platform in Indasabah waters off Tawau district three days after two cousins were abducted from their property in Tungku, Felda, Sabahat 15 by five armed men.

In the second case that took place late Saturday, the men, said to have been armed with M16 rifles, only took away a 40kg bag of ikan bilis (anchovies) worth RM350 and left after failing to spot the lone Filipino worker at the facility.

Police said initial reports indicated that the men approached the platform situated out at sea in a small boat equipped with two 40 horsepower engines and left minutes later with only the bag of fish.

Sabah Marine Police chief, SAC Abdul Manaf Osman said a police report was lodged early next day (Sunday) and that Marine Police had dispatched three patrol vessels to the scene.

He said based on the report and initial investigations the men who raided the platform at about 8:30pm were dressed as civilians but wore masks and spoke in the Sulug dialect.

“A Filipino worker in his 20s was on the platform when they arrived. He saw that they were armed and fearing for his safety, hid in a small compartment. When the armed men left minutes later, he came out and found a bag of ikan bilis missing.

“We had since intensified our search operation in and around the area. All boats plying the route were checked thoroughly but so far we had yet to detect the whereabouts of this group,” Abdul Manaf said.

Incidents not related

Meanwhile, Lahad Datu district police chief, Supt Shumsudin Mat, when contacted, said police believe the incident was unrelated to last week’s abduction of the manager and assistant manager of Lian Hin Lee Plantation Sdn Bhd.

“We are waiting for our Tawau counterparts to provide us with more details of the case, but so far our intelligence shows no connection between the two cases,” he said.

However, he described the report about men with high-powered weapons prowling Sabah waters and leaving with just a bag of fish, as strange.

“Let’s think about it… isn’t it ridiculous for such heavily armed men to just come for 40 kilos of fresh ikan bilis? Something is definitely not right here. That’s why we need to verify the details first,” he said.

There has been some speculation that the visit by heavily armed men to the platform was possibly a smuggling deal that went wrong.

Shumsudin brushed aside talk that the men were part of the group that carried out the abduction last Wednesday and that they were unable to leave Sabah waters due to bad weather and were looking for food.

“If that’s the case, why should they go so far [Tawau] to search for food and risk exposing themselves when they can find it around this area (Lahad Datu)?” he asked.

He also said there were no new developments on the kidnapping case and the abductors have yet to make any contact with the family of the victims.

Thomas Pi