Curfew extended in Sabah’s east coast

KOTA KINABALU: A dusk till dawn sea curfew at six districts in Sabah’s east coast has been further extended until November 6, state Police Commissioner Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman said.

He said the curfew extension in waters off the Sandakan, Kinabatangan, Lahad Datu, Kunak, Semporna and Tawau districts was needed to ensure security there.

He said the curfew was also to curb smuggling activities while enabling security forces to carry out their duties even more effectively.

Jalaluddin said resort operators and others in the tourism industry fully supported the curfew that had been enforced since July 19.

He said the curfew had not affected the fishing community in the affected areas.

The curfew came in the wake of the attack on a Marine Police unit at Pulau Mabul on July 12.

Marine Police Kpl Ab Rajah Jamuan, 32, was shot dead and his colleague Konst Zakiah Aleip, 26, was abducted when gunmen attacked them at the Mabul Water Bungalows Resort.

It was the latest security incident in Sabah’s east coast since November 15 last year when Taiwanese Chang An Wei, 58, was abducted and her husband Li Min Hsu, 57, killed at the Pom Pom island resort.

Chang was freed after 36 days of captivity in the southern Philippines island of Jolo.

On April 2, China tourist Gao Huayun, 29, and Filipino hotel worker Marcy Dayawan, 40, were taken from the Singamata Reef Resort near Semporna and just over a month later on May 6  China national Yang Zailin, 34, was abducted from from the fish farm he was managing at Pulau Baik in Lahad Datu.

On June 16, gunmen once again struck at a fish farm at Kampung Sapang in Kunak and abducted its manager Chan Sai Chuin, 32.

Gao and Dayawan were released by their Abu Sayyaf gunmen captors on May 30 while Yang was freed on July 9, both in Jolo. Chan however remains in the hands of his captors.