REINFORCEMENT: One of the two Agusta Westland AW109 multi-purpose army helicopters at Felda Sahabat brought to beef up the military assets used in the ‘Ops Daulat’ offensive against Sulu terrorists. — Bernama photo
LAHAD DATU: Security forces detained a man at a roadblock in Tanjung Labian yesterday and seized two swords and three machetes he was carrying in a package on his motorcycle, said Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar.
He said the man, in his 30s, was behaving in a manner arousing suspicion when stopped and an inspection showed up the weapons.
Ismail said the man was detained at 10.40 am and taken to the Cenderawasih police station for questioning.
“The investigation was to determine his background,” he told a news conference called at 5pm at the Felda Sahabat 16 operations command.
Also present was Chief of Defence Forces Gen Tan Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zin.
Ismail did not reveal, however, whether the man was a Malaysian or a foreigner.
Ismail also said that there had been no clashes between the security forces and the Sulu terrorists in the “Ops Daulat’ zone in Tanjung Batu and Sungai Nyamuk over the past 24 hours up to 5pm yesterday.
Nevertheless, the security forces were carrying on with the operation to flush out the remnants of the terrorists in the two areas and had put up more roadblocks within the zone.
The Ops Daulat offensive was launched on March 5 after the Sulu terrorists, who had holed up in Kampung Tanduo since Feb 12, killed eight policemen on March 1 and 2 in the village and in Kampung Simunul, Semporna.
Two soldiers also died in the operation while 56 Sulu terrorists have been killed so far.
Ismail said a forensics team was trying to identify the bodies of 26 terrorists through DNA profiling and finger prints.
On reports that two boats carrying 35 Filipinos believed to be followers of Jamalul Kiram were detained in Tawi-Tawi waters yesterday, Ismail said the Malaysian authorities were awaiting information from the Philippines authorities.
The Philippines media had reported yesterday that a Philippines navy patrol unit detained 35 people believed to have links with the Sulu terrorists in Sabah at 6.30am and recovered several weapons and explosives from the boats.
Ismail reminded the people and journalists against going into the Ops Daulat operations zone, and advised the people to continue to extend their cooperation for the success of the offensive. — Bernama