Tugboat Crew Kidnapped at Gunpoint Off Malaysia, Stoking Fears within the Region
KUALA LUMPUR, July 10 (Reuters) – Gunmen kidnapped three Indonesian members of a tugboat crew off Malaysia’s jap state of Sabah, police mentioned on Sunday, the most recent in a string of abductions in a area famous for kidnappings by Islamist militants.
It was not instantly clear whether or not the lads have been seized by Abu Sayyaf, a gaggle linked to Islamic State that’s chargeable for latest beheadings of Western hostages and infamous for the extortion of tens of millions of {dollars} in ransoms.
The tugboat, with a crew of seven, was in waters off the east coast of Sabah on Borneo island, about 3.6 nautical miles from a close-by Kampung Sinakut seaside, Sabah police commissioner Abdul Rashid Harun mentioned, when it was attacked by armed males in a white boat late on Saturday.
He mentioned that primarily based on early investigations, the three males kidnapped have been 34-year-old Lorens Koten, 40-year-old Teo Dores Kopong and a 46-year-old recognized solely as Emanuel.
Abdul Rashid mentioned they’re more likely to be within the southern Philippines now however didn’t elaborate. Four different crew members have been left behind by the abductors who got here in a speedboat.
“Victims released also said while the kidnappers were on their tugboat for nearly 30 minutes, no violence took place,” he informed reporters at a press convention in Lahad Datu.
The 5 abductors have been armed with rifles and likewise had a granade launcher, the police added.
In Jakarta, the Indonesian overseas ministry mentioned it had no data but on the abductions.
The Abu Sayyaf militant group has beheaded two Canadian nationals not too long ago after its ransom deadlines expired. It continues to be holding males from Japan, the Netherlands and Norway.
(Reporting by Kuala Lumpur bureau; Additional reporting by Jakarta bureau; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Ryan Woo)
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