Suspected Philippine insurgents seized a Chinese tourist and a hotel receptionist from a dive resort in eastern Malaysia, and then fled on the speed boat they arrived in, Malaysian and Philippine officials said yesterday.
The kidnapping late on Wednesday underscores the persistent security threats in the state of Sabah, a popular tourist destination and dive spot that is a short boat ride from the southern Philippines, which has long been home to a dangerous mix of Muslim militants and kidnapping gangs.
It could also complicate already strained relations between China and Malaysia over Kuala Lumpur’s hunt for a jetliner that disappeared on March 8 with 153 Chinese citizens on board.
Photo: Reuters
Gao Huayuan (高華贇), 28, a tourist from Shanghai, was taken along with Filipina hotel employee Marcy Dayawan, 40, when about six gunmen raided the Singamata Reef Resort at about 10:30pm on Wednesday, Malaysian media reports said.
The Singamata is a midrange resort popular with Chinese tourists in Semporna District on the island of Borneo. It has cottages on stilts over the water.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said the attack could be an attempt to stir up more trouble between China and Malaysia.
“The government does not rule out the possibility that the kidnappings in Semporna were done by certain parties to muddy Malaysia-China relations,” Najib was quoted saying by a Malaysian news agency.
He spoke while on a visit to the Australian staging base for the massive search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, the majority of whose passengers were Chinese.
It was not known who the kidnappers were or where the victims were taken. Bandits have in the past abducted tourists and fishermen in the area and taken them to nearby Philippine islands.
However, China urged Malaysian police to rescue its citizen and ensure safety.
“We sent relevant staff to the site and ask the local police to make an all-out rescue effort while ensuring the security of Chinese citizens and taking effective measures to safeguard the security of Chinese tourists,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei (洪磊) told reporters.
It said China would “follow this incident closely.”
The attackers were believed to be from Abu Sayyaf, a Philippine militant group that has been implicated in seaborne kidnappings for ransom in the region before, said a Philippine intelligence official who did not give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
In November last year, suspected Abu Sayyaf militants shot and killed a Taiwanese tourist and kidnapped his wife from a resort in the Semporna area. The woman was released a month later in the southern Philippines.
Authorities did not say whether a ransom was paid. Such deals are normally not immediately disclosed to the media, if at all.
Abu Sayyaf had tenuous historical links to international militant networks, including al-Qaeda, but a US-assisted Philippine military crackdown on the group’s heartland in Sulu in the southern Philippines has weakened it considerably in recent years. The group has about 300 fighters and is more focused on ransom kidnappings than the global jihadi cause.
Malaysian security forces patrolled nearby seas yesterday in search of the gunmen, reports said, and a military official in southern Philippines said his country’s forces were standing by to help.
China’s consulate on Borneo advised its nationals to “pay attention to personal safety” when traveling to Sabah’s dive sites, which include the island of Sipadan, and avoid “remote islands.”
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