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Friday, March 22, 2013

LAHAD DATU: Police doubts woman taken hostage

LAHAD DATU: Police cast doubts over allegations that a woman was held hostage by armed gunmen Kampung Embara Sakti on Thursday.

Checks on the woman's allegations revealed that they were false as there was a lot of inconsistencies in her claims. Furthermore, the woman has gone missing when police went looking for her to record her statement. It is learnt that she fled to Lahad Datu.

On Thursday, about 11am, security forces were put on alert after reports came in that gunmen had taken several people hostage in a house in Embara Sakti. They then stumbled across a woman who claimed that she had managed to free herself despite being tied by the gunmen, who had earlier forced her to cook for them.

She also told authorities that after she had escaped, the gunmen burnt down her house. Police immediately cordoned the house. However, the woman's claims could not be verified by anyone else including her neighbours. Even when police surrounded the house, they did not find anything.

Initial investigations revealed inconsistencies in the woman's report and when police wanted to record her statement, they found she had fled to Lahad Datu. Tan said there was a lot of rumours flying around at the moment which villagers panicked and got jittery when they heard about it.

However, he said many of these rumours had been probed and found to be merely hearsay. He advised the public to carry on with their lives and not worry. "Security forces have the situation well in hand and everything is under control. We appeal to the public not to worry about these hearsay."

As for the fire which razed the woman's house, Tan said the probable reason for the blaze was due to carelessness. "Investigations are still being carried out in the area and security forces have been stationed there to reaasure the villagers," Tan said.

Meanwhile, the state government will review the report submitted by the agencies who inspected Kampung Tanduo on Thursday. The National Security Council, Public Works Department, District Office and district police went to Kampung Tanduo to evaluate the damage.

The state government will later decide whether to compensate the villagers for their losses and the amount to be given out.

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