Three Malaysian fishermen were reported to be kidnapped late Saturday off Pom Pom Island in eastern Sabah. This was disclosed by Malaysian authorities.
The Star Online quoted Eastern Sabah Community Command ( EssCom) Commander Datuk Wan Abdul Bari Abdul Khalid saying that the commander received a report about the alleged kidnapping from the owner of the boat himself. Khalid mentioned that the abduction was orchestrated by seven armed Filipinos. The victims were believed to have been brought to Tawi - Tawi Province which is the border of the southern part of the Philippines and Malaysia.
The abductors sped off on a green motorized boat. While the rest of the crew of the vessel steered their way back to Semporna jetty. It is confirmed that the boat is Malaysian registered as Khalid told this to the Armed Forces of the Philippines but limited on the details. Although it has been the ASG who are doing kidnapping activities, however the authorities have not linked the said incident to the ASG yet. Khalid said its probable that this was perpetrated by a "kidnap for ransom group" that operates near the borders of Tawi Tawi and Malaysia.
Furthermore, the kidnapped victims are not Malaysians but permanent residents of Malaysia. While the Malaysian military was vocal about the kidnapping, AFP and Joint Task Force Sulu kept their mum on the said incident which transpired during massive counter actions operations against the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu.
However, allegedly there were three badjaos that were kidnapped in the Semporna Seas at around 10:40 pm of Sept 10. They were identified as Masurin, Sami and Lolong based from an Intel military report.
Source: Inquirer