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VAT69 commando took cover during shootout at Kpg Tanduo on March 1 BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily News » Sabah - New 2 Borneo

VAT69 commando took cover during shootout at Kpg Tanduo on March 1

Posted: 15 Apr 2014 12:44 PM PDT

KOTA KINABALU: The High Court here heard yesterday that the late VAT69 commando, Corporal Sabaruddin Daud had taken cover when a shootout occurred at Kampung Tanduo, Lahad Datu on March 1, last year.

ASP Bingkok John said he did not see the late corporal get shot by the intruders as he had thought Sabaruddin was well protected behind an oil palm.

"He (Sabaruddin) was behind one oil palm. There was another tree between him and I.

"I only knew he had been shot after the shootout ended," he said.

Bingkok, who was assigned to conduct close reconnaissance with team B, said Sabaruddin was seriously injured in the head.

After the one-hour shootout ended, Bingkok said, he did not inspect the place of skirmish with his team leader, Supt Mancha Ata.

Instead, he was instructed by Mancha to arrange for Sabaruddin's body to be taken out of the operation area.

Asked by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Abdul Wahab Mohamed to whom Sabaruddin's body was handed over to, he said it was to a General Operations Force (GOF) personnel.

On the shootout, Bingkok said 35 to 40 armed intruders started shooting at him and his team seconds after one of the intruders shouted: "Tiger, berambus kau dari sini, ini bumi kami." (Tiger, get lost from here, this is our land).

Asked by Abdul Wahab who was the intruder referring to when he uttered the word "Tiger", Bingkok said his team.

During cross-examination, Bingkok said he did not know if the GOF men stood as backup for the five VAT69 teams conducting close reconnaissance at Kampung Tanduo on March 1, 2013.

"In particular, is it correct that the backup team for Team B was a GOF team called Tiger Batallion 17 whose commanding officer was Supt Edward Comoral?" asked counsel Datuk N Sivananthan, to which Bingkok said he did not know.

The commando also disagreed with counsel that according to a press statement by Edward, the skirmish had lasted 10 minutes.

Thirty accused, comprising 27 Filipinos and three local residents, are being tried in the case, in which some are facing multiple charges of being members of a terrorist group or waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, recruiting members for a terrorist group or wilfully harbouring individuals they knew to be members of a terrorist group.

They allegedly committed the offences between Feb 12 and April 10, 2013.

The hearing before Justice Stephen Chung at the Sabah Prisons Department continues today. — Bernama

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ESSCom bans all night activities at sea and rivers

Posted: 15 Apr 2014 09:54 AM PDT

KOTA KINABALU: The Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom) has banned all night activities at sea and rivers in the 10 districts under the East Sabah Security Zone (ESSZone) with immediate effect.

This means that all night activities such as night dives or travelling out to the sea will be disallowed from 6pm till sunrise the next day.

ESSCom director general Datuk Mohammad Mentek announced the order during a dialogue with resort operators in the ESSZone here yesterday.

From today onwards, all activities in the sea and rivers must be carried out during day time only, he said.

"Any night activities such as travelling out to the sea will not be allowed effective today," he stressed.

He said this measure was to prevent abduction from taking place again.

Mohammad added abduction could happen at resorts, as well as on boats traveling in the sea.

Asked if banning night activities will impact on the tourism industry, particularly the night activities organized by island resorts in the east coast, Mohammad said operators who have unique reasons to carry out night activities must apply to ESSCom.

On whether local fishermen should also follow the new regulation, he said ESSCom is not banning night time fishing at this stage, but he is discouraging fishermen from doing so.

"We will monitor the fishermen when they go fishing at night. But we hope that local fishermen could avoid night time fishing, if possible, as kidnappers are also targeting on locals."

Mohammad said the locals were also among the victims in the eight abduction cases in Sabah since 2000.

During this critical period, Mohammad said resort operators and security forces should work closely together. Since night activities carry risks of abduction, then such activities should be stopped, he said.

He said the security forces will be conducting patrols from time to time and operators found carrying out night activities will face stern action.

On the other hand, Mohammad said ESSCom only plays a coordinating role and is not in control of the various security forces such as the Malaysian Army, Immigration Department and police.

He said ESSCom was formed on April 1 last year to coordinate the efforts of enforcement units such as the police, army, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), Immigration Department and Customs Department.

Therefore, Mohammad said it was incorrect to say that these enforcement units were under the control of ESSCom as they only receive orders from their respective officials.

"ESSCom only has 48 officers," he disclosed.

He also refuted claims that ESSCom had received hundreds of millions in allocations.

Mohammad said the government had announced a RM200 million allocation from its emergency funds during the Kampung Tanduo intrusion in Lahad Datu for Ops Daulat. However, ESSCom only received RM2.97 million last year, most of which was used to pay the wages of security personnel in the ESSCom.

He said the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had announced an allocation of RM79 million to ESSCom in Budget 2014. The allocation has been channeled to the Home Ministry while ESSCom had only received RM7.97 million.

Mohammad reiterated that ESSCom had only received RM11 million in allocation for the past two years, and not hundreds of millions as promised.

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Resorts ordered to sack all illegal workers in 24 hours

Posted: 15 Apr 2014 09:53 AM PDT

KOTA KINABALU: Resorts operating in the 10 districts under the East Sabah Security Zone (ESSZone) have been ordered to sack all their illegal immigrant workers within 24 hours.

Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom) director general Datuk Mohammad Mentek, who gave the order yesterday, also issued seven guidelines to resort operators which would take effect immediately.

Mohammad said ESSCom would carry out spot checks on resorts and those found to be in violation of the regulations and guidelines would face stern action, including prosecution and revocation of their licences.

Mohammad made the announcement during a dialogue between ESSCom and resort operators in the ESSZone here yesterday.

He said this was the fourth dialogue with resort operators. The first dialogue was chaired by Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun.

Mohammad said ESSCom and resort operators have discussed ways to step up security in resorts and prevention of abduction during the dialogue.

During the meeting, Mohammad issued seven guidelines to resort operators which the latter must adhere to.

Failure to do so would result in serious consequences, including a proposal by ESSCom to the Ministry of Local Government and Housing to revoke the resort operator's licence.

The seven guidelines are as follows:

1. All resort operators in the ESSZone must employ trained security personnel to be stationed at their respective premises. This is because many security personnel in resorts are found to be untrained, some are even part-time gardeners or handymen who moonlight as security personnel at night.

Mohammad said ESSCom would obtain a staff list from the Local Government and Housing Ministry and carry out spot checks on resorts to ensure the resorts employed trained security personnel.

He said resorts might need time to employ trained security personnel. However, during the transition period, each resort must at least have a person in charge of informing the police as soon as something happens at the resort.

2. All resorts in the ESSZone are banned from employing illegal immigrants.

Regrettably, Mohammad said there were still resorts which employed illegal immigrants after the murder cum kidnapping of Taiwanese tourists on Pom Pom Island in November last year.

He said ESSCom had carried out a large scale operation against illegal immigrants after the abduction case on Pom Pom Island.

Eight illegal foreign workers were arrested from the resorts operating in the ESSZone following the operation.

After the abduction of a Chinese tourist and Filipino worker from Singamata Adventures Reef and Resort on April 2 this year, ESSCom carried out three spot checks on resorts on April 7 and 8, and arrested 25 employed illegal immigrants.

Mohammad said some resort operators even hid their illegal workers in guest rooms to avoid arrest by enforcement units.

He condemned such acts, saying that it was irresponsible to do so, adding that a report had been submitted to Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid and Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Haji Aman, both of whom had agreed to take stern action against these operators.

"If the operators are uncooperative, they will certainly face stern action. It will not be a surprise to see them prosecuted in court for harboring illegal immigrants," he warned, and ordered resort operators to sack the illegal immigrants under their employment.

3. Resort operators in the ESSZone must submit a list of their employees every three days for ESSCom to monitor the workers' background.

Mohammad expected to receive the employees' list from all resort operators in the ESSZone in the next seven days.

He said there were a total of eight island resorts in the ESSZone, including six in Semporna and two in Sandakan.

Meanwhile, there are 32 river resorts along Kinabatangan river.

4. All resorts in the ESSZone must install security equipment, including closed circuit television (CCTV), surveillance towers, sufficient floodlights, efficient communications system and so on.

5. All resorts in the ESSZone must cooperate with security forces. Previously, some resort operators have refused to allow security personnel to patrol in the resort. These operators even refused to allow security forces to carry their firearms on their resort and demanded that the personnel don plain clothing before they could enter the resorts.

6. Resort operators are instructed to reflect necessary information to ESSCom. If security forces were found to be negligent or lazy, operators should immediately reflect the issue to ESSCom or Mohammad himself.

7. Resort operators should employ locals. Mohammad said resort operators employed illegal immigrants as they could converse in English and work for low salary. However, it was hard to uncover the background of illegal immigrant workers.

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Stop charities using kids to seek donations – rep

Posted: 15 Apr 2014 09:52 AM PDT

KOTA KINABALU: The State Islamic Affairs Department has been urged to monitor unregistered Tahfiz charity centres in Sabah.

According to Sekong assemblyman Datuk Samsuddin Yahya, such centres were prevalent in Sabah.

Samsuddin said that he did not want such centres to manipulate the children under them to become their slaves to seek donations from the public.

He also said that such centres have given Islam a bad name.

The assemblyman also called on the Community Development and Consumer Affairs Ministry to act strictly against those found manipulating children and adults to raise sympathy and gain donations.

He said these individuals garnered public sympathy by showing letters from the charity bodies and from the Tahfiz charity centres.

He added that such incidences were rampant in Sabah and they should be monitored.

The Sekong representative also pointed out that students from SMK Batu Sapi and SK Bahagia are risking their lives each time they cross the road to go to school.

He said vehicles travel at high speed along the stretch of road and students have to run with their heavy load to cross the busy road.

"If they are not careful, they may be killed while crossing," he said.

Hence, he called on the Road Works Department to provide a bridge for pedestrians to cross the road.

Samsuddin also urged the Rural Development Ministry to consider expanding the MESEJ programme to islands within his constituency.

He said most of the inhabitants on the islands proposed were the poor.

"They comprise fishermen and live at islands such as Pulau Timbang, Tronglit, Sibuad, Api-Api, Terusan, Simagung, Shanghai and seven others," he said.

The MESEJ programme most suitable for them should be related to aquaculture, he said.

Samsuddin also urged the local government to conduct its surveillance at sports complexes and shops to stop smokers from littering their cigarette buds all over the place.

He said that fines and compounds should be imposed on the perpetrators on the spot.

With regard to housing, Samsuddin called on the Local Government and Housing Ministry to construct more affordable houses at his constituency.

He said that that need for such housing at his constituency was critical as the cost of houses now was too high.

Due to the high cost of housing, the squatter areas in Sekong have increased, he said.

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Kidnappers planning another abduction – ESSCom

Posted: 15 Apr 2014 09:50 AM PDT

KOTA KINABALU: Kidnappers from the southern Philippines will carry out another abduction in Sabah within the next two to three months.

Issuing the warning yesterday, Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom) director general Datuk Mohammad Mentek said this was based on reliable intelligence received by ESSCom.

In response, Mohammad said ESSCom had instructed the security forces patrolling island resorts to step up their efforts and remain alert.

He said this when leading high officials from ESSCom to meet with resort operators in the East Sabah Security Zone (ESSZone) for a dialogue here yesterday.

Mohammad said ESSCom's tight security has foiled four attempts to encroach our waters to carry out abduction in November last year.

"It was most unfortunate that the murder cum kidnapping case of Taiwanese tourists on Pom Pom Island happened," he said.

Mohammad said the Southern Philippines had 14 armed syndicates specialized in abduction, of which seven of the syndicates were still active.

He said the southern Philippines recorded 76 kidnapping cases last year.

Kidnapping has somehow become a business to the syndicates to make quick money, he said.

According to intelligence received on March 19 this year, Mohammad said 30 armed kidnappers on five boats would be intruding into Sabah to carry out a large scale abduction.

ESSCom immediately reacted by stepping up security in ESSZone.

As a result, Mohammad said four boats carrying kidnappers from the southern Philippines turned back whereas one boat successfully entered the State and abducted Chinese tourist Gao Huayun, 29 and Filipino worker Marcy Dayawan @ Mimi, 40 on Singamata Adventures Reef and Resort.

He said ESSCom had received reliable intelligence that the southern Philippines kidnappers would return within the next two to three months, and he urged island resort operators in the ESSZone to take the issue seriously.

"We have instructed the army and police boats patrolling the island resorts to remain alert," he added.

Based on the intelligence received by ESSCom, the kidnappers from southern Philippines would usually break into island resorts during high tide at night, and flee during low tide.

Mohammad said eight abduction cases by Filipino kidnappers have occurred since the year 2000. The first was the abduction of 21 domestic and international tourists from Sipadan Island to southern Philippines in 2000.

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ESSCom DG not to blame for kidnapping – Bumburing

Posted: 15 Apr 2014 09:49 AM PDT

EASTERN Sabah Security Command (ESSCom) director-general Datuk Mohammed Mentek cannot be blamed for the recent kidnapping off Semporna nor can he be blamed on ESSCom's failure to guard the safety at the east coast of Sabah.

According to Tamparuli assemblyman Datuk Wilfred Bumburing during the state assembly sitting yesterday, the director-general had done his best to fulfill his responsibilities.

"However the federal government has not given its full attention to the problems faced by ESSCom," said Wilfred.

He added that ESSCom had applied for more workforce and assets but received an unfavorable response from the federal government.

"Based on information from the resort operator in Semporna, no boats are stationed permanently at some islands. So how can the security forces operate without adequate facilities? Of course certain parties have observed this and have confidently carried out their activities," he said.

Bumburing said it was only recently that the Civil Service Department visited the islands in Semporna but until today, there had been no concrete commitment from the government.

"Again, the question raised is why the acquisition of assets for the security forces is being managed by the Civil Service when the police and army have their own allocation budget?" he questioned.

Bumburing also raised the issue of the ESSCom director-general being a civilian.

"In terms of command logistics, he has problems issuing instructions to the police and the army since both have their own line of command. Hence, I propose that a deputy director-general of ESSCom to come from either the police or army, or that ESSCom be placed under the jurisdiction of the police," he said.

He said the federal government must take serious measures speedily to avoid other untoward incidents from happening again.

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