Troops, police hunt for kidnapped Malaysians

MANILA, Philippines - Soldiers and police continue to hunt for two Malaysian workers kidnapped from an offshore seaweed farm by gunmen four months ago, a governor of a southern province said yesterday.

Five gunmen seized the workers from Malaysia’s Sabah state on Feb. 8 and whisked them away on a speedboat.

Intelligence reports recently indicated the two may be in Tawi-Tawi, Gov. Sadikul Sahali said.

Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militants have staged kidnappings in neighboring Malaysia in the past, then brought their hostages to jungle hideouts on southern Jolo island to seek ransom. Sahali, however, said it remained unclear who abducted the Malaysians, identified as Tsen Vui-chung and Lai Wing-chou.

The kidnappers appeared to have first brought their captives to Jolo island, but the heavy military presence there to check the Abu Sayyaf may have led them to move the Malaysians by boat to nearby Tawi-Tawi, said Sahali.

A military and police search for the Malaysians now focused on Tawi-Tawi, about 1,000 kilometers southwest of Manila.

“They seem to be mobile. We could not locate or contact them,” Sahali told The Associated Press.

Brother-in-law Chong Man-tung said Tsen called him weeks after the abduction, saying the two were being held by gunmen on an unspecified Philippine island.

The Malaysian police were coordinating with their Philippine counterparts to locate the workers, the Malaysian embassy in Manila said.

Abu Sayyaf militants kidnapped 10 European tourists and 11 Malaysian and Filipino workers from a dive resort in Sipadan, Malaysia, in April 2000. The hostages were eventually freed after large ransom payments were made.     – AP