KOTA KINABALU: Security in Sabah especially in the east coast must be beefed up to prevent further abduction incidents, United Pasokmomogun Kadazan-Dusun-Murut Organization (UPKO) deputy president Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Bumburing said.
The Tuaran member of parliament pointed out that the livelihood of the people living along the coastline in the east coast are threatened by terrorist groups who operate in the southern Philippines whose inhuman and ghastly activities have encroached into Malaysia’s sovereign territory.
“The government must therefore make it their topmost priority to provide maximum security so that the people in the east coast of the state will be able to carry out their daily activities in peace and harmony,” he said.
“I, therefore, call upon the government to beef up the security especially in the east coast so that this same incident will not happen again,” Bumburing said when commenting on the release yesterday of Tsen Vui Chung and Lai Wing Chau who were kidnapped on Feb 8 from Semporna.
While touching on the duo’s release, Bumburing extended his gratitude to the Tawi-Tawi Governor, Hadji Sadikul Adalla Sahali for assisting to secure the release of the two Sabahans.
Meanwhile, AFP quoted Filipino officials as having said that two Malaysian seaweed farmers seized by gunmen linked to Islamic militants have been freed unharmed across the sea in the southern Philippines.
According to the report, police found Tsen, 48, and Lai, 46, in Bongao, the capital of the Tawi-Tawi island group near Malaysian Borneo late Tuesday, national police chief Raul Bacalzo told reporters in Manila. Bacalzo said Filipino authorities had advised Malaysia about the rescue of the victims.
The duo had told the police that they had been moved to several locations in Malaysia and in southern Philippines during their 10 months in captivity.