Sabah police confident of kidnapped Malaysians' release

Bernard Then Ted Fen (left) and Thien Nyuk Fun

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah police are confident of securing the freedom of two Malaysian hostages held by Abu Sayyaf as negotiations enter the final stages.

Police Commissioner Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman said he was confident that efforts to secure the release of restaurant manager Thien Nyuk Fun, 50, and engineeer Bernard Then Ted Fen, 39, would succeed.

He hoped that nothing would disrupt the negotiations for the release of the duo who were abducted from the Ocean Seafood Restaurant in Sandakan on May 14.

“I hope their families will be patient. Don’t worry,” he said after opening the Al Fattah mosque at the Penampang police station on Thursday evening.

Earlier this month, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said Thien and Bernard were reported to be safe.

However, Filipino and Malaysian sources on the ground in Jolo island in south Philippines where Thien and Bernard were being held have voiced concern about their fate.

They are worried that Abu Sayyaf would carry out their threat to behead the hostages.

The Abu Sayyaf are now on the constant run with the Philippines military hunting for another kidnap group that grabbed two Canadians and a Norwegian from a resort in Samal Island in Philippines on Sept 21.

Ground sources in Jolo have said that Then was suffering from leg injuries and had to be carried whenever the Abu Sayyaf flee to safer ground in the jungle.