Troops on lookout for Taiwanese kidnapped in Sabah

ZAMBOANGA CITY - Marines and police forces were alerted following information that suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen ran to Tawi-Tawi after abducting a Taiwanese tourist and killing her husband in a resort off Semporna in Sabah, Malaysia.

Reports from Malaysian authorities said that gunmen believed to be members of the dreaded Abu Sayyaf Group sneaked into Pom Pom Island Resort, killed Taiwanese tourist Hsu Li Min, 57 and abducted his wife Chang An Wei, 58, last Friday at around 1 a.m.

The Malaysian authorities believe that the gunmen brought their captive to Tawi-Tawi.

Brig. Gen. Jose Joriel Cenabre, chief of the Task Force Sulu and 2nd Marine Brigade, said they have no information yet on the possible whereabouts of Chang An in Tawi-Tawi or in Sulu province.

Cenabre, however, said the troops have been alerted to monitor the possible presence of the victim in the two provinces.

“There has been no information that will confirm if the abductors really took their captive tourist to Sulu but our Marines were already on alert,” Cenabre said.

The local police also said that they have no information that gunmen landed in Sulu with the Taiwanese national.

Sulu police provincial director Senior Superintendent Abraham Orbito said that the kidnappers might have taken refuge in one of the islands near Sulu or Tawi-Tawi.