Sabah hostages held in southern PH – Malaysian military

In this photo taken with a mobile phone camera on Wednesday, April 2, 2014, tourists hide behind a table in reaction to gunshot sounds at the Singmata Adventures and Reef resort after a raid by suspected Filipino insurgents in Semporna, Sabah state of Malaysia. Suspected Filipino insurgents seized a Chinese tourist and a hotel worker from a dive resort in eastern Malaysia and then fled by speed boat, Malaysian and Philippine officials said Thursday. AP

The two foreign women abducted by Abu Sayyaf gunmen from Singamata Reef Resort on the Malaysian island of Semporna, Sabah are alive and well and are being held on an island in southern Philippines, military officials said.

Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) director-general Mohammad Mentek said the two – Chinese national Gao Huayun, 29, and Filipino resort worker Marcelita Dayawan, 40, – are “well.”

Esscom, he said, had identified the location where the two hostages are being held as well as the identity of the kidnappers.

One of the kidnappers is believed to be also involved in the abduction of a Taiwanese woman on Nov 15, 2013 in Pom Pom Island.

“The rest are said to be linked to the Sipadan island kidnapping (of 21 people) in 2000,” he said in a statement yesterday.

“We believe that this particular ‘kidnap for ransom’ group is active and aggressive in the southern Philippines,” said Mohammad, adding that the local Filipino community might have provided information to the gunmen.

Mohammad said 15 of the resort’s foreign workers had been detained for not having valid documents.

The immigration department, he said, had been directed to carry out a full investigation and take action, including charging the resort operator, for employing foreigners without valid documents.

“We cannot compromise any more. We have given enough advice and reminders to all operators in the area yet so many refuse to adhere,” he said.

Mohammad said before Wed­nesday’s incident that security forces had managed to thwart some five boats that were attempting to get into Semporna on March 26.

“The presence of our forces in the area managed to stop four of the boats from entering Semporna waters,” he said.

He did not elaborate if the fifth boat was the one used in the raid at the Singamata resort.

In a related development, police are zeroing in on four employees of the resort said to have provided key information to the seven gunmen.

However, they have yet to establish if Dayawan was targeted by the gunmen.

Sabah Police Commissioner Hamza Taib confirmed that three women and a man aged between 20 and 50 have been arrested for questioning.

In the incident, Dayawan was grabbed from her room first before Gao.