| POLICE PROBE
SHOWS LOCAL PEOPLE INVOLVEMENT IN KIDNAPPING - IGP SEMPORNA, Sabah, April 28
(Bernama) --Police investigations into the kidnapping of 21 people from Pulau Sipadan in
Sabah waters on Sunday show local people's involvement in the case, Inspector-General of
Police Tan Sri Norian Mai said here today.
The involvement was more in the form of passing of information to the kidnappers, he said.
Norian said so far police had detained seven people to help them in their probe.
Asked whether they were employed at the Sipadan Resort, Norian said,"No, they were
not even former employees."
"We will continue with out investigations and there can be more arrests. This is the
normal procedure in any investigation," he told reporters at the Semporna Police
Station here.
Six bandits armed with AK-47 assault rifles and a bazooka launcher abducted 10 Malaysians,
three Germans, two French, two Finns, two South Africans, one Lebanese and a Filipino on
Sunday from Sipadan.
Asked about the latest developments on the rescue operation, Norian said there had been no
major developments.
"So far as we know, there has been no success in the rescue effort and it will be
sometime before a direct link is established between the government and the
kidnappers," he said.
Norian said police had received reports which could not be confirmed fully that the
captives were now in the Southern Philippines and that they were well while the
Philippines was making efforts through the Governor of the Autonomous Muslim Region in
Mindanao Nur Misuari to secure their release.
"Stories of some of the captives being released and so on cannot be confirmed and
there is no evidence to support there has been such release," he said.
"Such claims are rumours which have been picked up as (news) sources by the press and
others. But no one has confirmed this matter," he said.
Norian said Malaysian Police had direct contact with the Philippine authorities and were
cooperating in intelligence gathering.
He however refused to go into details. "We will use this channel (of cooperation) to
get the hostages released," he said.
Asked whether there had been any demand for ransom, Norian said so far there had been none
and Malaysian police had no contact with the kidnappers and usually cases involving
militants would take sometime before they set forth their demands.
Norian also said there were no joint police operations to secure the release as the
victims were now in the Philippines.
"We have to depend a lot on their efforts...we are ready to provide any information
which they may require," the IGP said.
Asked about claims that police on the island resort had not been supplied with adequate
weapons, Norian said such incidents did not occur every day.
He said the island was an important holiday resort and police presence should be at a
minimum level so as not to create a garrison impression. "After the pirate attacks in
1996 and 1997 (in the Sabah east coast) we set up the Eastern Command with the focus on
the east coast and since then there has been a drastic drop in the number of such
incidents," he said.
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