KUALA LUMPUR (6 Oct 2003) -- Malaysia Monday ruled out terrorism in a puzzling raid by armed kidnappers on a remote jungle holiday resort, while the Philippines said the gang could be heading across the sea border with their six captives. Malaysian police said three Indonesian and three Filipino workers had been kidnapped from the tiny riverside Borneo Paradise Resort in eastern Sabah state late Sunday night by a 10-man gang who bundled them onto a speedboat. Some of the kidnappers were wearing military fatigues and carried modern weapons, police said. But Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told reporters: "This is not the work of terrorists. It is believed the kidnappers want ransom money." The United States maintains a travel advisory warning its citizens to avoid visiting Sabah state on Borneo island, a paradise for international divers, because of the threat of terrorism. The Philippine Muslim rebel group Abu Sayyaf kidnapped 21 people, mostly Western tourists, from the Sipadan resort in Sabah in April 2000, holding them for nearly a year before releasing them, reportedly in exchange for millions of dollars in ransom. Five months after the first raid they seized three Malaysian hostages from the nearby resort island of Pandanan. But Malaysian police chief Norian Mai ruled out speculation that Abu Sayyaf was responsible for the latest raid. The resort, which opened six months ago, is some two kilometres (1.25 miles) from the northeast Borneo coast and 38 kilometres from the nearest town, Kunak, Norian said. It has just 15 rooms, catering mainly for local tourists, and campsites for parties of schoolchildren, and had no guests at the time of the raid. The kidnappers had not taken any food from the resort, which suggested they were not preparing for a long journey, and witnesses described them as speaking local dialects, he said. "So we think it is done by locals. We believe it is not committed by foreign criminals. They did not do anything else except to kidnap the workers." | | "Our speculation points to ransom." The kidnappers had not communicated with the authorities, he said. If locals were involved, observers said this would be the first such incident in recent memory, adding to the puzzle over how much ransom kidnappers could expect for ordinary workers. Norian did add, however, that Indonesian and Philippine authorities were cooperating in the hunt for the kidnappers. "We are conducting joint operations with Indonesian and Philippine authorities. We cannot rule out the possibility of them hiding there. "The Malaysian navy, airforce and military are combing the area. There is a lot of jungle and highlands where they can hide." A spokesman for the Philippine armed forces, meanwhile, said the kidnap gang was believed headed for the main southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Security forces on Mindanao had been placed on high alert and were working closely with the Malaysian authorities to intercept the group, military vice chief of staff Lieutenant General Rodolfo Garcia told reporters. Garcia said his information was that there were no Filipinos among the hostages and that the hostages were Indonesians and Malaysians. He said he was not ruling out the possibility that the kidnappers could be members of the Abu Sayyaf, which is based in the southern Philippines. It is believed that the capability of the Abu Sayyaf has been downgraded amid relentless military operations in their strongholds. The US armed forces is training Filipino troops hunting down the Abu Sayyaf. "However, we do not completely rule out the involvement of the Abu Sayyaf in this particular incident," Garcia said. |
