Sabah police will not negotiate ransom demands made by Abu Sayyaf-linked kidnappers

KOTA KINABALU — The Malaysian police are working with their Philippine counterparts to secure the release of three Indonesian fishermen kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf-linked gunmen off Lahad Datu on Sept 23.

Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Omar Mammah said the kidnappers made their ransom demand during a call to one of the victim’s sisters in Sandakan on Sept 30.

Declining to state the ransom amount, he said they were working with their counterparts in the Philippines to secure the release of the three.

“No. We are not negotiating the ransom,” he told reporters at the Kepayan state Police headquarters monthly assembly here on Tuesday (Oct 8).

It is understood that the gunmen had urged the family to raise the money to make payments quickly.

In the incident, seven heavily-armed Filipino gunmen grabbed three Indonesian crew men from a Sandakan-registered fishing trawler in waters off Tambisan at about noon, on the day of the incident.

The Indonesians are Samiun Maniu, 27, Maharuydin Lunani, 48, and Muhammas Farhan, 27.

The kidnappers took the fishermen to the Tawi Tawi island chain before heading to Jolo, the home base of the militant Abu Sayyaf group.