KUALA LUMPUR, April 5 — The gunmen who abducted four Malaysians last Friday near a Sabah island spoke a Filipino dialect and released captives of three other nationalities, Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim revealed today.

“There were 10 crew members on the boat — four Malaysians, three from Myanmar, three from Indonesia — only the Malaysians were captured while those from other countries were released.

“Based on investigations, the crew members that were let off said the abductors spoke in Tagalog,” the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department told Parliament today.

According to Shahidan, the abduction took place at 6.15pm on April 1 when a group of gunmen seized the Malaysian-registered tugboat off Sabah’s Litigan Island at the borders of Malaysia and the Philippines.

“ESSCOM received this information at 8.30pm,” he said, referring to the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCOM) that was set up in the wake of the 2013 intrusion of Sulu gunmen.

ESSCOM had immediately launched a search using assets located in Sabah’s Tawau and Sandakan, he said.

Shahidan also insisted that ESSCOM’s past efforts in beefing up security in Sabah was successful, which he said was what prompted the change in behaviour by the foreign gunmen in that area.

“The modus operandi of the Kidnapping for Ransom Groups have changed targets to slow-moving vessels, this clearly shows that ESSCOM’s initiatives in tourism centres, fish farms and risky routes have been effective; forcing the KFRG to aim for softer targets - trading ships,” he said.

He added that these groups were also operating further away from the coast, which increased authorities’ response time, he added.

“So this shows that our action so far has succeeded and the next course of action is that all trading ships should immediately inform us, we will act immediately after receiving information,” he said.

On April 1, four Malaysians were abducted by Filipino gunmen off Sabah’s Litigan Island enroute from Manila to Tawau.

The four that were on Malaysian-registered tugboat MV Masfive 6 have been identified as Wong Teck Kang, 31, and his brother Wong Teck Chii, 29; Wong Hung Sing, 34; and Johnny Lau Jung Hien, 21.