Armed men seize 4 Indonesian crew members off Tawi-Tawi
ZAMBOANGA CITY – At least four more foreigners had been forcibly taken by still unidentified armed men in the waters of Tawi-Tawi, authorities said Saturday.
The fresh abduction came barely 15 days after the Abu Sayyaf abducted four crew members of a Malaysian tugboat, also off Tawi-Tawi; and about a month after the bandit group snatched 10 Indonesians manning another tugboat.
The abductions occurring between Sabah and Mindanao had prompted Malaysian authorities on April 9 to shut down cross-border trading between Malaysia and the Philippines.
Maj. Filemon Tan Jr., spokesperson of the Western Mindanao Command, said the fresh abduction of the foreigners, whom he initially identified as “Malaysian nationals” took place around 6:30 p.m. Friday near Pondo Sibugal in Sitangkai town.
He said the victims were on a tugboat marked TB Henry when at least seven armed men on a speedboat boarded their vessel.
Another report said the victims were Indonesians from Banjarmasin, the capital of South Kalimantan. The Tawi-Tawi police confirmed the nationalities of the victims.
READ: 4 Indonesians kidnapped by pirates in PH, Malaysian border
The armed men, the police said in a report, took Indonesians Moh. Ariyanti Misnan (boat master), Lorens M.P.S (chief master), Dede Irfan Hilmi (second officer), and Samsir (seaman), and shot at another crew member–identified as Lambas Simanungkalit–who resisted the kidnapping.
A separate report from the Philippine Coast Guard said five crew members were unmolested and that the suspects fled toward a still undetermined direction.
The tugboat, which sailed from Banjarmasin, was being manned by 10 crew members, the PCG report added.
“TB Henry managed to cross towards the Malaysian waters and asked for help. The remaining crew on board were assessed to be in a great shock and traumatized,” the PCG report added.
The Tawi-Tawi police said it was the survivors, who informed Malaysian authorities of the incident.
Tan said they were not certain where the victims had been brought to amid speculations they were brought to Sulu, where the Abu Sayyaf has been holding over two dozen captives.
On April 1, suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits also boarded a Malaysian tugboat and took with them four Malaysian crew members.
READ: 4 Malaysians reported seized by Abu Sayyaf
In March, the bandit group also snatched 10 Indonesians manning another tugboat as it was sailing in Philippine waters.
The Abu Sayyaf’s extremism and kidnapping in the southernmost part of the country has taken its toll on the centuries-old barter trade system between the Philippines and Sabah, Malaysia, a government official said.
“The Malaysian government has shut down its Sabah border with the autonomous region to cross-border trade in protest of the recent kidnapping of Malaysian nationals by suspected Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG),” Laisa Alamia, executive secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), told reporters here on Thursday.
She said Malaysian authorities had put up a naval blockade between Sabah and Tawi-Tawi, Mindanao’s springboard to Malaysia, which effectively prevented travel between the two territories.
“The ASG kidnapping activity is now a (major) issue that is why (ARMM) Governor Mujiv Hataman is currently in Manila talking to Malacañang about this,” Alamia said.
Alamia said talks were now also being held in the hope that Kuala Lumpur reconsiders it decision.
Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman was quoted by Malaysia’s official news agency, Bernama, as saying the decades-old barter trade activity in Sandakan and other east coast towns had indeed been shut down as part of security measures agreed upon by the Sabah Cabinet in the wake of the abductions.
Asked why barter trading had to be stopped, Musa said: “We do not know who these people (the barter traders) are bringing in.”
Aside from the barter trading, the transshipment of petroleum and gas products in Eastern Sabah had also been stopped, he said.
Musa said a curfew from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. was also being implemented in seven Sabah districts and any foreign vessel sailing in the restricted areas would be seized while Malaysian merchant vessels sailing in high-risk areas would be provided protection.
Musa said the plan to put up ferry services between Kudat and Palawan had also been deferred because of the kidnappings.
Even with the new development, the ARMM said it was seeking to expand the Polloc Freeport in Maguindanao as the number of foreign vessels docking there had increased.
Hexsan Mabang, port manager, said the Polloc Freeport has been the port-of-call to 167 domestic and foreign vessels in 2013; 189 in 2014; and 211 last year.
Ishak Mastura, executive director of the ARMM’s Regional Board of Investments (RBOI), said the increase in frequency of ship-calls and in the volume of cargo traffic showed signs of the improving economy, through growing domestic and foreign business investments into ARMM, amid peace and order problem in some parts of the region.
Because of the growing traffic, Mabang said the ARMM proposes to expand the port’s berthing area to twice longer than its present berthing area of 400 meters.
He said expanding the port’s berthing area required the national government’s approval, particularly on its funding requirement.
Don Mustapha Loong of the ARMM’s Department of Public Works and Highways said bidding has been set for later this year for the conduct of a full feasibility study on the expansion of the port. With reports from Edwin Fernandez and Nash Maulana, Inquirer Mindanao/CDG
READ: Abu Sayyaf gunmen abduct 10 Indonesians, demand P50M
