The ReCAAP ISC informed about an abduction incident that took place on a boat on 5 December, near the waters of Tambisan, Lahad Datu, Sabah. Namely, about 20 men boarded the boat and abducted three crew.
On 5 December, around 20 men, who are believed to be from the Sulu-based Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), armed with firearms, boarded the boat from speed boats painted green with grey, and powered with double engine.
[smlsubform prepend=”GET THE SAFETY4SEA IN YOUR INBOX!” showname=false emailtxt=”” emailholder=”Enter your email address” showsubmit=true submittxt=”Submit” jsthanks=false thankyou=”Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list”]
They abducted three crew, one Malaysian and two Indonesians and arrived at Laminusa Island, Siasi Municipality, Sulu Province on 6 December, After that, they went to So Dumlog, Brgy Likud, Pata, Sulu Province on 7 December.
The Joint Task Force Sulu is conducting an all-out effort to establish the status, condition and location of the alleged kidnapped victims.
This is the second actual abduction incident reported in 2018. The first actual incident happened on board the fishing trawler, Sri Dewi 1 on 11 September. Then, two crew were abducted in Semporna waters, off Sabah. Of the two abducted crew, one of them was rescued by the Philippine authorities on 5 December.
According to ReCAAP ISC, the threat of abduction of crew in the Sulu-Celebes Seas and waters off eastern Sabah remains. For this reason, it maintains its advisory issued via the ReCAAP ISC Incident Alert dated 21 November 2016 to all ships to reroute from the area, where possible.
Ship masters and crew are strongly urged to be extra vigilant while transiting the Sulu-Celebes Seas and eastern Sabah region, and report immediately.