| ASSISTANT COOK LEE MAY BE CAPTIVE NUMBER 21
SEMPORNA, April 25
(Bernama) -- Police have disclosed that armed pirates who attacked Sipadan island last
Sunday have taken altogether 21 hostages and not 20 as earlier reported.
When asked to confirm the actual number of captives involved, Sabah Commissioner of Police
Datuk Mamat Talib said: "It's 21."
Although Mamat did not elaborate on the identity of the latest captive, speculation was
rife today that assistant cook Lee Hock Leong, 20, may be hostage number 21.
Lee, whose name was initially not in the official list of hostages, was employed by the
Sipadan Dive Centre.
According to an uncle who wished not to be named, Lee had worked there for the past six
months and was an apprentice cook in Tawau before that.
According to the uncle, prior to the incident, Lee went to Pulau Sipadan Resort to invite
friends over for barbecue at the Sipadan Dive Centre not far from the resort.
"While he was there, the kidnappers came," the uncle said.
The uncle said Lee's family members heard of pirate attack on Sunday night and at 8 am the
next day he and some relatives took a boat to Sepadan Island and circled the place several
times to look for Lee.
"We failed to locate him and returned here at about 4 pm," the uncle said when
met here, visibly anxious as the other family members about Lee's fate.
Meanwhile, Pulau Sipadan Resort manager Cetrick Chin said the kidnappers seemed to know
the place very well.
He did not rule out the possibility of the pirates getting help from insiders.
According to Chin, a staff member of the resort alerted him about the raid and he
subsequently informed the Semporna police station on the mainland some 40 minutes boat
ride away.
Back to Sipadan Hostages News
Back
to This Week's Borneo News |
