Musa says authorities must be vigilant at all times to ensure that security is not compromised
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman has ordered security authorities in the state to use all available resources to find and free the two women who were kidnaped for a holiday resort in Semporna last night.
Musa said the police and Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCOM) director-general Mohammad Mentek had briefed him on the kidnapping of the 29-year-old Chinese national who was on holiday at the Singamata resort, and a 40-year-old Filipina resort worker by gunmen at 10.30pm yesterday.
“I have directed the relevant authorities to gear up all efforts towards resolving this case,” he said in a statement issued here today.
The chief minister ordered that security be beefed up further, especially via ESSCOM. “We must be vigilant at all times to ensure that our security is not compromised,” he said.
Prime Minister Najib Razak, speaking in Perth Australia, after arriving on Wednesday to get a first-hand look at the search being conducted for a missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 believed to have gone down in the southern Indian Ocean, said Malaysia has contacted Philippine authorities to help find the kidnap victims.
He said he regarded the abduction as serious and had ordered all the relevant enforcement agencies to look into the case immediately.
“Our priority is to ensure the safety of the hostages,” Najib told Malaysian journalists shortly after a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on the search for the missing airliner.
Najib did not rule out the probability that some quarters wanted to tarnish the relations between Malaysia and China as the abduction coincided with the missing jet.
The prime minister said all efforts to find the abduction victims were ongoing.
Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police maritime unit and anti-kidnapping operatives were reported to be closely coordinating with their Malaysian counterparts to resolve the abduction case, national news agency Bernama reported.
The Philippine Embassy, in a statement here today said both sides were currently exchanging information and working towards the speedy resolution of the case.
“The Embassy’s Police Attaché immediately alerted Philippine police authorities in nearby areas for possible interdiction, in the event the perpetrators and their victims were headed their way,” it said.
Authorities have not release the name of the Filipino victim until her next of kin had been notified.