KOTA KINABALU - Twenty-five people, including a six-year-old child, were detained in a swoop on 19 tourist resorts in Semporna on Monday.
The multi-agency, eight-hour operation coordinated by Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) was carried out at resorts on Mabul, Kapalai, Pom Pom and Mataking islands.
Esscom director-general Datuk Mohammad Mentek said Tuesday that those detained were aged between six and 52 (21 male and four female) and found to not be in possession of valid travel or identity documents.
He said a total of 360 resorts workers and their families were checked in the operation codenamed Ops Gasak 4.
The operation was carried out in the wake of last Wednesday’s abduction of Chinese tourist Gao Hua Yuan, 29 and Filipina resort worker Marcy Darawan, 40, from the Singamata Reef Resort in Semporna by seven Abu Sayyaf-linked gunmen.
Mohammad said that those without valid documents would be charged under the Immigration Act and that action against resort operators who employed illegal immigrants could also be taken pending further investigations.
Authorities suspect that the seven gunmen in last Wednesday’s kidnapping may have had inside help.
Police had earlier detained four people (three women and a man) including two individuals related to Singamata resort worker Marcy to assist in investigations.
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