LAHAD DATU: The Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom) is determined to immediately purge all resorts in the Eastern Sabah Safety Zone (ESSZone) of foreign workers without valid documents as they were potential informers to cross-border criminals.
Accordingly, ESSCom Director-General Datuk Mohammad Mentek said massive operations will be launched at identified island resorts in the near future following the kidnapping incident at a resort in Singamata Island, Semporna, last Wednesday.
“Based on the feedback from ESSCom intelligence and modes of operation used by the kidnappers, the criminals were obviously well aware of the ins and outs of the area, including the occupants of the resort.
“We suspect there are individuals, in particular the local people who came from the Philippines who provided early information to the kidnappers. This thing should not happen,” he said in a statement yesterday.
In the latest kidnapping, a Chinese national and a Filipino resort worker were kidnapped from Singamata Adventures Reef and Resort by a group of seven gunman at 10:30 pm last Wednesday.
The victims were identified as Gao Hua Yua, 29, from Shanghai and resort worker Marcy Dayawan or Mimi, 40. The 60-room water resort located about two nautical miles from Semporna town has been operating for more than 10 years.
Mohammad also issued a warning that stern action will be taken against employers or resort operators in the ESSZone if it is proven that they hired foreign workers without valid documents.
He said that they had discussed the matter with resort operators and tourist centers in Sabah three times and made recommendations to the operators to install CCTV and hire security guards.
He added that all parties should be responsible for ensuring that the security situation in ESSZone was always controlled and secure.