BELURAN: The crew of a fishing trawler was robbed at gunpoint by a group of men who spoke Tagalog in waters off Jambongan island here on Monday.
The nine member-crew escaped unharmed, but due to the long distance from Jambongan to Sandakan, news of the robbery only reached the authorities today.
District police chief Superintendent V. Sivananthan said one of the crew members, Jonathan Aying Amit, 40, only lodged a report on the incident at about 1am today.
"At about 3pm on Monday, the crew was fishing near international waters when they were approached by a boat of six people in normal attire.
"As the boat neared the trawler, two men pointed rifles believed to be an M203 and an M16 at Jonathan," Sivananthan said in a statement, adding that the boat was white, about 8 metres-long and was powered by two engines.
The suspects communicated in Tagalog to ask Jonathan for money.
However, the armed men settled for 500 kilogrammes of fish, 500 litres of diesel, torchlights, batteries and a Global Positioning System device when Jonathan told them they did not have any money.
Jonathan said none of them covered their faces, but he could only remember that one of them was quite bulky and had a fair complexion.
The six left the trawler with their haul and headed east towards the Philippines – the direction from which they had come.
Shivananthan said all victims are safe and no arrests have yet been made.