Esscom foils intrusion attempt

SEMPORNA: Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) personnel on patrol duty near Pom Pom Island foiled an intrusion attempt by a group of gunmen after intercepting a boat about 30km off the coast here early Tuesday.
Alert members of the General Operations Force (GOF) who were on sea patrol duty at the waters close to the island were startled when they heard the engine noise of a small boat not far from their location.
The personnel switched on their spotlights and on swivelling it around the area, they spotted a boat speeding towards Malaysian soil at about 3am.
As the area was off-limits to sea travel due to a scheduled curfew imposed along the east coast of Sabah, the GOF men pursued the intruders.
Just moments into the chase, gunshots rang out from the encroaching boat. The intruders fired several shots at the GOF personnel who returned fire.
The gunmen were forced to turn their boat around and managed to escape in the direction they are believed to have come.
Esscom commander DCP Datuk Abdul Rashid Harun said today that as the area was pitch dark at the time, GOF personnel were unable to tell the number of people who were in the group.
"However, as there were gunmen on board the boat, we believe the group had planned to intrude into Sabah and are not discounting the possibility of them having some ill-intent. Why else would they be carrying firearms and shoot at our personnel?" he told theSun.
Despite intensifying security at hotspots off the coast of Sabah, foreign criminals aligned to militant groups in South Philippines had managed to sneak into the country pulling off robberies and kidnappings.
In the latest case at 8pm on May 14, a group of gunmen clad in olive-drab military fatigues attacked Ocean King Seafood restaurant off the coast of Sandakan before abducting the eatery's manager, Thien Nyuk Fun, 50, and her customer Bernard Then Ted Fen, 39.
Bernard who is an engineer and Thien remain in the hands of their abductors who have demanded for a ransom amounting to millions of ringgit for their safe release.