KOTA KINABALU, May 14 — Police today said they believe that the notorious “Muktadil brothers”, suspected to be behind the latest kidnapping in Sabah last night, may have had some inside help from a staff of the restaurant where the hit took place.
State police commissioner Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman said that the police have detained 15 cellphones belonging to the restaurant’s staff in the hopes of identifying the group’s informant to aid in investigations.
“We are investigating all the restaurant staff’s background so that we can narrow down how the victims were directly targeted. We suspect there may have had a ‘pointer’,” he said in a statement.
Last night, four gunmen dressed in camouflage gear and bearing pistols and an M16 assault rifle stormed the popular Ocean King seafood restaurant and abducted its 50-year-old restaurant manager Thien Nyuk Fun and 39-year-old Bernard Then, an electronic consultant from Kuala Lumpur working in Cambodia.
The group came via speedboat from the restaurant’s rear sea entry at about 7.26pm and grabbed the two victims who were seated at separate tables before speeding off in the vessel where two other men were waiting.
Jalaluddin said that one of the men had headed straight towards the the two tables, pointing his pistol and gesturing towards the patrons to keep silent.
“One of the suspects, in a blue t-shirt and camouflage trousers and brandishing an assault rifle dragged Thien, who fell down in an attempt to escape.
Another suspect, also dressed in camouflage grabbed the second victim and bundled them onto a waiting speedboat under the watchful eye of a fourth suspect who was wearing a bullet chain,” he said, adding that witnesses said they were afraid to look at the suspects even if they were not wearing masks.
No efforts has been made by the group to contact family members to ask for ransom yet.
The Muktadil brothers’ gang — lead by brothers Nilson and Adzmil — are believed to be behind several kidnappings in Sabah’s porous east coast, including the abductions of China tourist Gao Huayun, 29, and Filipino worker Marcy Dayawan, 40.
The group, based in the Southern Philippine island of Tawi-Tawi, are believed to have over 40 men for their kidnap-for-ransom activities and four boats equipped with 40HP to 70HP outboard engines.
In last night’s incident, Thien was believed to have been taking a break while Then, who was on holiday with his wife, was having dinner with a friend at the popular seaside restaurant on stilts.
Then and his wife, Chan Wai See, had just arrived in Sandakan yesterday morning for a three-day vacation.
Security forces have since launched a massive search operations to hunt down the suspects by cutting off the borders to southern Philippines and combing the area using helicopters.
