KOTA KINABALU: Police believed the kidnapping of a man and a woman at the Ocean King Restaurant in Sandakan on Thursday night was an “inside job”.
Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman said police were checking the background of all workers of the restaurant and would narrow down their investigation on how the two abducted victims could become the targets.
“We believe there was a pointer,” he said, adding that operations to track down the abductors were carried out at the maximum level.
Jalaluddin said police investigation believed that the kidnapping was carried out by the notorious Muktadir brothers, who are wanted by the police.
The Muktadir brothers, along with their accomplices, are believed to be moving in and out of the state to the Philippines for kidnap-for-ransom activities, smuggling and other cross-border crimes during the past year.
This is the first kidnapping in Sabah this year and it happened during the dusk to dawn curfew which covers 10 districts within the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom), including Sandakan.
The 10-hour curfew from 7pm to 5am restricts night activities and covers areas starting from about three nautical miles from shore until the international borders with the Philippines.
Barely an hour into the 7pm curfew on Thursday, four armed men stormed the Ocean King Restaurant and abducted the man and woman in full view of about 100 customers who included children.
Thien Nyuk Fun, 50, who is the sister-in-law of the manager of Ocean King Restaurant, was among those kidnapped in the 7.45pm incident.
The other victim is Bernard Ghen Ted Fen, 39, from Sarawak who worked as an electrical consultant in Cambodia.
Four men who were armed and wearing camouflaged army uniform, but without any facemask, climbed up the staircase of the restaurant that was built on water, and took off with Nyuk Fun and Bernard in a waiting boat.
No shot was fired by any of the suspects while the incident lasted only a few minutes.
It was also said that the abductors, believed to be members of KFR (kidnap for ransom) group, was targeting civilians and did not bother with the money in the cash register at the counter.