KUALA LUMPUR: The threat of Abu Sayyaf group, said to be based in Jolo, is still high despite the establishment of Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom), said Inspector-General of Police, Datuk Seri Abdul Hamid Bador.
He said the militant group could launch an attack anytime.
“As such, Esscom will be restructured on the placement of security forces involving the Malaysian Armed Forces, police as well as the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).
“Among others, the restructuring will involve the structure of security and change of security posts, which have been taken over by police and the Armed Forces,” he said in an exclusive interview with Bernama at Bukit Aman headquarters.
Hamid said the restructuring process is still being carried out via the National Security Council (NSC) to further strengthen Esscom.
He said threat to the islands of Sabah is unavoidable.
“This is because Sabah is very near to the Philippines, it only takes 15 minutes to travel by speedboat to reach the Philippines waters,” he said.
Hamid said it was easy for the Abu Sayyaf group to intrude into Malaysian waters.
“However, the Philippines government had earlier created an overall security control on Jolo islands near Kunak as well Lahad Datu, Sabah and the new measure has eased our concerns,” he said.
Nonetheless, he said Esscom needed to be on constant alert of any looming threats.
On May 6, Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu announced Esscom would be restructured to improve security on the eastern coast of the state.
According to him, the NSC is also looking at efforts to acquire additional equipment to boost security under Esscom. -- Bernama