Kidnappers strike Malaysian resort, three abducted
Kidnappers strike Malaysian resort, three abducted
KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia (Agencies): Gunmen have seized hostages from an east Malaysian dive resort in the second such kidnapping in five months and were headed by boat for the southern Philippines with their three captives, officials said on Monday.
Malaysia launched a massive air and sea search for the gunmen, thought to be Filipinos, and their Malaysian hostages.
Sunday evening's kidnapping on the idyllic tropical island of Pandanan off Sabah was staged just one day after the last European hostages seized in April from another Malaysian dive resort were finally freed.
Four Europeans freed by Muslim rebels in the Philippine jungle were on their way to Libya on Monday, and a Libyan negotiator said the rebels were expected to free two Frenchmen within days.
"An agreement has been reached regarding them and they will be released very soon," Rajab Azzarouq, who was accompanying the four freed hostages, told Reuters by telephone from Ras al- Khaimah airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Asked if he expected the two French journalists, Jean-Jacques Le Garrec and Roland Madura, to be freed within two to three days, Azzarouq said: "Yes."
Pandanan is about 35 minutes by boat from Sipadan island, where nine Malaysians and 12 foreigners were abducted by Abu Sayyaf Filipino Muslim guerrillas on April 23.
The reported payment of millions of dollars in ransom for some of the Sipadan hostages sparked widespread predictions that Abu Sayyaf factions or copycat criminals might be back for more valuable captives.
Many Filipinos have feared a new wave of kidnappings inspired by the US$15 million in ransom reportedly paid for the release of the earlier captives.
"Paying ransom ultimately comes back to bite you," said presidential Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora. "This is a policy that is really self-defeating. The more you pay ransom, the more you encourage kidnapping."
Deputy Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, quoted in Kuala Lumpur by Bernama news agency, said police had told him the gang might be foreigners.
He said the Malay dialect they used was similar to the language spoken in the nearby southern Philippines. The four men, each carrying an M-16 rifle, arrived by boat at Pandanan about 7.30 pm (6:30 p.m. Jakarta time).
Eleven of the staff fled into the jungle. When they returned five hours later they found three of their colleagues missing.
In the Philippines, armed forces vice chief of staff Lt. Gen. Jose Calimlim said Malaysian police had told him that the four and their captives were headed for Bato-Bato, a town in the Tawi- Tawi group of islands.
Zamora said Philippine President Joseph Estrada had ordered his forces to "do everything to prevent these kidnap victims from being brought to the Philippines."
Roslin Ahmad, chief cook at the Pandanan Semporna Island Resort, said most staff were eating or resting "when all of a sudden four men with weapons appeared and shouted instructions harshly.
"My friends bolted and I followed suit," he told reporters after arriving in the Sabah state capital Kota Kinabalu. "We ran into the nearby jungle and hid there for quite a while. Soon after (bolting) we heard two gunshots.
"Five hours later, after we felt that it was safe to come out, we went back to the resort and found three of them were missing."
They are resort manager Mohamad Noor Sulaiman, divemaster Joseph Jongkinoh, and a Chinese contractor identified as Ah Kai, who was visiting to assess damage caused by a recent storm. The storm had damaged the clubhouse and the resort was closed to guests.
Sabah deputy police commissioner Mazlan Tyan said police had launched a "massive manhunt" together with the navy and the General Operations Force, a paramilitary police force.
He acknowledged that the kidnapping operation was "more or less the same" as Sipadan.
The workers also said they saw another boat, possibly with four men onboard, but it stayed off the island.
Abdullah said police were investigating whether the Abu Sayyaf was also to blame for the latest kidnapping.
Pandanan, a four-hectare island which boats pristine coral reefs, has just one resort and no police base. "Pulau Pandanan (Pendanan island) is small and not all islands can be guarded," Abdullah said.
But he ordered tighter security at all holiday resorts, especially in Sabah.
The raiders ransacked rooms at the resort and stole a grab-bag of items -- a television, a video recorder, a mobile phone, a video camera and a chainsaw. The resort has been evacuated and is being guarded by police.