KOTA KINABALU: A two-year-old girl has been taken hostage by a man armed with a knife on the fourth floor of a flat in Taman Telipok Ria, Tuaran.
Police are on the scene and have the unit surrounded in their bid to coax the suspect to let the child go.
It is understood that the man is hiding in the toilet of the unit.
The situation unfolded at about noon when the unidentified man, believed to be in his 30s, kidnapped the child.
The man then took the child and entered a unit on the fourth floor, close to where the girl's parents are staying.
Checks at the scene found police from the Tuaran district police headquarters as well as officer from the D9 unit of the Sabah contingent police headquarters on hand to handle the situation.
Also at the scene are officers from the Fire and Rescue Department.
Several residents also took to placing mattresses on the ground floor outside the unit in anticipating any possibilities.