TAWAU, Sept 12 — Chief of the Indonesian Consul-General’s Office in Tawau Sulistijo Djati Ismojo is confident of the Malaysian security forces’ capability in handling kidnapping cases in the east coast of Sabah.

He said it was hoped that the Malaysian government would resolve the case involving two of its citizens who were kidnapped in the waters off Gaya Island, Semporna yesterday.

“We are still waiting for reports from the Malaysian authorities about the kidnapping,” he said when contacted by Bernama here today.

Sulistijo said he had met the employer of the victims, who were a skipper and assistant skipper of a fishing boat.

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“Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry is tracking the victims’ families in Sulawesi,” he said.

In the 12.30am incident, two Indonesian fishermen Samsul Saguni, 40, and Usman Yusuf, 35, were kidnapped by armed men.

This would be the first kidnapping incident in the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (ESSZone) in almost two years.

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Meanwhile, in Lahad Datu, Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom) commander Datuk Hazani Ghazali said in a statement that the victims’ fishing boat was not equipped with the Automatic Identification System or AIS.

Thus, Hazani advised fishing boat operators to install the automated tracking system on board their boats to enable the authorities to locate them when something untoward happened at sea. — Bernama