KOTA KINABALU: A man who tried to attack three teenagers with a machete as they walked through an estate in Tawau district has been nabbed.
The suspect, a 37-year-old undocumented Indonesian, was said to have started chasing the teenagers as they walked through an oil palm estate at Jalan Kongsi 8 at around 1.43pm on Friday.
It is learnt that the two girls and one boy were heading to school when the suspect started chasing after them and threw a machete at them.
Tawau deputy police chief Supt Champin Piuh said based on a police report lodged, the teenagers managed to avoid getting hit by the machete.
“They ran and screamed for help from people in the area,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Estate workers in the area helped to stop the man and hold him down while others called the police, he added.
“Police arrived at the scene after 2pm,” said Supt Champin.
The cause of the attack was still under investigation and the suspect would be probed for criminal intimidation, he added.
The suspect was also found to be an illegal immigrant and would be handed over to the Immigration Department for further action under the Immigration Act, said Supt Champin.
