KOTA KINABALU, May 14 — Police have confirmed that 50-year-old seafood restaurant manager Thien Nyuk Fun and 39-year-old electrical consultant Bernard Then were abducted during tonight’s daring attack on a popular seafood restaurant in Sandakan.

According to state commissioner Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman, Thien is the sister-in-law of the restaurant owner and the manager of the restaurant.

Then, on the other hand, is from Kuala Lumpur and currently based in Cambodia.

Thien is the sister-in-law of the restaurant owner and the manager of the restaurant.

Jalaluddin said that the two were kidnapped by the four armed gunmen who arrived at the Ocean King seafood restaurant by speed boat during the peak dinner period at 7.26pm.

“The abductors, who were unmasked, were dressed in camouflage pants and brandished an M16 assault rifle with bullets and pistols. They were caught on closed circuit television (CCTV),” he said in a statement.

“They came up via the staircase at the back of the restaurant and went straight towards the victims who were seated at separate tables and forcefully grabbed them before speeding away,” he said.

Jalaluddin said that police are currently taking eyewitness accounts from all the patrons as well as restaurant staff.

The Eastern Sabah Security Command have launched a massive manhunt utilising the marine police, Malaysian Marine Enforcement Agency, General Operations Force and army to search the seas up to the border between the Southern Philippines.

Then is from Kuala Lumpur and currently based in Cambodia.

Helicopters are also circling the area and have been ordered to intercept any suspicious boats in the vicinity.

Earlier, the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said that police are not ruling out the possibility of the suspects being Sulu militants.

Police here have been on alert for a suspected gunmen who were spotted at a plantation in Kinabatangan earlier this month.

Sandakan is one of the many districts under a 7pm to 5am curfew that was enforced last August.