Resort hired 15 illegals – ESSCom

0

SEMPORNA: Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) director-general Datuk Mohammad Mentek disclosed yesterday that 15 of the foreign workers hired by the resort where a Chinese tourist and a Filipina resort employee were abducted by gunmen on Wednesday night have been detained for not possessing valid travel documents.

He said he had directed the Immigration Department to carry out a full investigations and take action, including charging the Singamata Reef Resort operator, which has been operating for 10 years, for employing foreigners without valid documents.

“We cannot compromise anymore because we have given enough advice and reminders to all operators in the area, but many refuse to adhere to it,” he said.

Mohammad also said that before Wednesday’s incident, security forces spotted five boats that were attempting to get into Semporna on March 26.

“The presence of our forces in area managed to deter four boats from entering Semporna waters,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib said police have detained three men and one woman in connection with the abduction of the Chinese tourist, Gao Huayuan, 29, and Filipina Marcy Darawan @ Mimi, 40.

He said the four were picked up yesterday evening.

Police believe the seven gunmen who abducted the duo belong to a “kidnap for ransom” group from the southern Philippines, and have taken their two victims across international waters.

Meanwhile, AFP reports that Philippine soldiers have been deployed to a remote southern island where suspected militants are believed to have taken Gao and Marcy, but no sightings .

Lt-Col Ramon Zagala said seven gunmen aboard a white speedboat were believed to have taken the women from a diving resort in Malaysia’s Sabah state across the maritime border to the remote Tawi-Tawi islands in the southern Philippines.

“What is important is to… block them (from fleeing) and find them,” Zagala said, adding that an undisclosed number of naval forces, including marines, had been sent to one of the islands.

Zagala said the hostages were believed to have been taken to Simunul, a majority-Muslim town of about 35,000 people living on two tiny islands more than 1,000km from Manila.