KOTA KINABALU: The wife of one of the recent kidnap victims has received a call asking for a ransom of RM4 million, police said today.
The amount was to secure the release of the two Indonesian fishermen who were operating on a local fishing boat when they were taken around Pulau Bod Gaya waters in Semporna on Sept 11.
Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Omar Mammah, in confirming this, said the victim’s wife received the call on Sept 18 around 10.24am.
“However, no deadline was given to the wife who was in Sulawesi, Indonesia, on the handing over of the ransom.
“The call was believed to have come from the neighbouring country as the number used was a Philippine international line.
“We believe there will be further discussions between the abductors and the victims’ families on this matter,” he told the media after the march at the Sabah police headquarters here.
The march was held in conjunction of Omar’s appointment as the new state police commissioner since September 12.
Omar said they would continue to monitor the case and the safety of both victims.
Indonesia had previously asked for Malaysia’s assistance with regard to the kidnapping of their citizens.
Meanwhile, on the current status of ban of pump boats in Sabah waters, Omar said this was still at review stage.
“Several series of meetings will be held and when we have a concrete decision, we will present it to the state government. It is up to them whether to implement the recommendations or not.
“We will see how things turn out and the security forces will adhere to the state government’s final say,” he added.
Previously, Sabah government had said it was considering a review to lift the ban, but would include approaches like re-registering boats and colour-coding them based on districts.
This particular type of vessel was banned by the previous Sabah Barisan Nasional government due to its use in cross border crimes, including kidnappings.