Kidnapping: Police to take statement of Indonesian crew

KOTA KINABALU: Police will take the statements from the Indonesian crew of a tugboat who escaped from being kidnapped by an armed group in the southern Philippine waters, yesterday.

Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Abdul Rashid Harun said at the moment, one of the ship’s crew who was undergoing treatment for an injury at the Semporna Hospital would be transferred to the Tawau Hospital for further treatment.

“If it (the time) is suitable, we (police) will take his statement,” he said via a WhatsApp message to Bernama, here today.

Abdul Rashid said five other crew members of the ship who also escaped would be going to Lahad Datu for further action.

Yesterday, four of the 10 crew members who were Indonesian nationals were reported to have been abducted by the armed group who were believed to have overtaken the tugboat which was on its way from the Philippines to Indonesia, at about 6.30pm.

Shortly after the incident that occurred in international waters, six of the crew members who escaped were believed to have entered Malaysian waters before being rescued by Malaysian security forces.

Previously, on March 26, a tugboat carrying coal from the Borneo Archipelago to the Philippines was believed to have been seized by an armed group while 10 crew members of the ship, who were Indonesian nationals, were abducted.

On April 1, four Malaysian crew members of a tugboat were kidnapped by eight armed men in the Ligitan waters, near Semporna. – Bernama

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