The Borneo Post Graphic
SCENIC: View of Pom-Pom Island in Semporna.
ON GUARD: Security personnel checking things on the ground.
Gunmen raid Sabah holiday chalets, kill Taiwanese tourist, kidnap wife
KOTA KINABALU: A Taiwanese tourist was shot dead and his wife abducted by gunmen at a resort in Pulau Pom Pom, here early yesterday morning.
The body of 57-year-old Hsu Lim Min was found with two gunshot wounds, one on his chest and another on his ribs, along a chalet corridor of the water village around 1am yesterday.
His wife, Chang An Wei, 58, was missing, believed to have been abducted by the gunmen following the incident.
Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib said police are doing their best to track the woman and her kidnappers as investigation is still ongoing.
“The couple were among 54 guests at the resort when the incident happened.
“Investigation at the scene believed the kidnappers had entered the couple’s chalet from the bathroom window around 1am.
“A bullet hole was also found at the front door of the villa together with four bullet shells, believed to have come from two high powered rifles,” he said at a press conference at the state police headquarters in Kepayan here yesterday.
Hamza said police are still investigating the motive of the murder and kidnapping as there were no signs of robbery since the couples’ belongings were still inside the villa.
“It is still too early to speculate the motive and we are doing our best to get to the bottom of the incident,” he said.
Hamza said prior to the incident, a security guard had heard a gunshot from one of the five chalets built on the water and immediately called for assistance from a General Operations Force (GOF) base which is about a kilometre from the resort.
“As GOF personnel entered the villa, they found one gunshot hole at the main door, which was locked from inside.
“A resort staff then unlocked the door and GOF personnel found the dead man with two gunshot wounds on the floor,” he said.
The victim’s body has been taken to the Semporna hospital for a post-mortem and the Taiwan Embassy has been notified of the incident, said Hamza.
Asked if the suspects had fled to a neighboring country, Hamza said police believed the suspects and the woman have not gone far as the suspects were using pump boats and there are many island near the resort.
“The closest island to the resort is Malamanuk Island, which is near Mataking Island,” he said.
Hamza also dismissed claims that the incident is related to the Abu Sayyaf based on information received by the police and a special task force team which has been set up.
He said the case is currently being investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder and Section 365 of the same code for abduction.
It is said that Lim Min Hsu and his wife An Wei Chang have been in the state for holiday since Tuesday (Nov 12) and were expected to leave on Nov 20.
This is the second kidnapping incident within a couple of years, with the first incident occurring on November 14, 2012 at a birds’ nest house inside an oil palm plantation in Timbun Mata at Kampung Manakayang, off Lahad Datu.
In 2000, armed Philippine gunmen took 21 hostages at Sipadan, another popular scuba diving site nearby, including 10 tourists from Europe and the Middle East. They were later released after a ransom was paid.