Sabah cops: Murder, kidnap ‘isolated’ case

KINABATANGAN: State police have described the murder and abduction of Taiwanese tourists at Pulau Pom Pom, Semporna on Friday as an isolated incident.

Sabah Police Commissioner Hamza Taib said the state’s security was under control with sufficient security personnel capacity.

“We have solid backup from the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), Marine Police, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, Royal Malaysian Navy, Joint Forces Command 2 and Royal Malaysian Air Force.

“We also have security control posts at most of the resort centres in the state,” he told reporters after launching a crime awareness programme here yesterday.

According to him, police believed the abducted Taiwanese woman was still alive and investigations were continuing.

Hamza also dismissed press reports that the couple were married. He said a post mortem on the man’s remains would be carried out by the PDRM’s forensic department on Nov 20.

In the incident at about 1am, a Taiwanese man aged 57 was shot dead and a Taiwanese woman aged 58, abducted by a group of men.

In KUALA LUMPUR,   Inspector-General (IGP) of Police Khalid Abu Bakar urged the media to refrain from giving the incident too much coverage as the life of the kidnap victim was at stake.

“This is a kidnap case, so it’s better not to discuss it openly in the media as we’re concerned the kidnap victim will be at greater risk. Let us handle it with the Filipino authorities,” he stressed.

‘Be government’s eyes and ears’

Meanwhile in LAHAD DATU community leaders particularly village heads in the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone) are urged to report any illegal or suspicious presence in their area to the security forces.

Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) director-general Mohammad Mentek said they could report to the nearest police station or contact Esscom’s 24-hour operations room at 089-863181, or fax to 089-863182.

“Their cooperation is crucial. We do not want to be complacent after what had happened. So we want them to be the government’s eyes and ears,” he said after a meeting with community leaders including village heads at the Tungku sub district secretariat here yesterday.

According to Mohammad, Esscom received a lot of feedback from the community leaders during the meeting including a suggestion to the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) and Home Ministry for new police stations to be built in the Esszone.

“In this regard, we will raise the suggestion to the PDRM, Home Ministry and Defence Ministry for consideration,” he said.

He said the villagers also requested for a control post and additional security personnel in the zone including Tungku.

“We view the meeting as a good platform for us to create greater rapport and a cooperation network with the villagers on reinforcing security control,” he said.

-Bernama