Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Jalaluddin Abd Rahman said they believed the trio fled and escaped to their homeland in the Philippines after evading capture when spotted in Pulau Maiga off Semporna at about 5.30pm on Thursday.
“We have our strategy on how to catch these people.
“(But) we will wait for them. When they return, we will arrest them,” he said in a brief text message yesterday.
On Saturday, police identified two of the three intruders as the notorious Muktadil brothers – Badong and Nilson – who were believed to have entered into Semporna as illegal immigrants.
The brothers’ late father was a notorious pirate while the third man was their accomplice.
Police said the trio were probably testing out the strength of the security forces which intercepted them between Tanjung Sirangol and Pulau Maiga during the operation on Thursday.
Nilson had lived in Kampung Bangau-Bangau and was believed to have been involved in the April 2 kidnapping of Chinese tourist Gao Huayun and Filipino worker Marcy Darawan from the Singamata Reef Resort.
Together with his brother Badong @ Adzmil Muktadir, they are believed to have more than 40 men and four boats for their kidnap-for-ransom activities.
Their latest act involved the killing of a marine policeman and kidnapping of another policeman on July 12. Since their escape on Thursday, security forces have launched an air and sea hunt for the men.
Police and the Sabah Eastern Security Command have identified several squatter villages, which might be the breeding ground for criminal activities and harbouring moles or kidnappers, to be demolished.
In an Ops Gasak 26 operation on Saturday, police identified 400 such squatter houses and nabbed 925 migrants.
by Stephanie Lee
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