Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) chief Datuk Abdul Rashid Harun said the focus of the operation would include the mainland and islands off Semporna, Kunak, Lahad Datu and Kunak districts.
“This is among the drastic measures we are taking within the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone) in tackling and preventing cross-border crimes especially abductions,” he said.
He said a number of kidnapping attempts since July last year had been foiled due to the coordinated efforts of Malaysian security forces.
“Our efforts had also resulted in decline of smuggling activities along the east coast,” Abdul Rashid said after receiving two mooring buoys from the Marine Department in Tawau on Monday.
He said buoys would be placed at strategic locations to enable Malaysian security forces’ motherships to moor at mid sea and carry out visual and radar monitoring activities.
Abdul Rashid said Esscom intended to obtain more of such buoys to increase the coverage of such monitoring efforts.
Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman said last week that they had received information of a wide range of security threats, including a possibility of attacks on isolated police bases in the state.
He said this had prompted the extension of the dawn-to-dusk sea curfew in eastern Sabah.
Jalaluddin said police had also received information that cross-border kidnap-for-ransom groups and other criminal elements were hiding in islands close to Sabah waters, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
No comments:
Post a Comment