Coast Guard joins search for kidnappers
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Coast Guard has directed its stations in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi to closely coordinate with the military and police units trying to intercept suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits who abducted a Filipino woman and a Chinese national from a resort in Sabah, Malaysia, on Wednesday.
Commander Armand Balilo, the PCG spokesperson, said Friday that PCG units in the region had been tasked to “intensify their patrols and closely coordinate with the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.”
Six armed men snatched the Filipino victim, a 40-year-old resort receptionist, and the Chinese national, a 28-year-old tourist from Shanghai, in the Sangamata Reef Resort, located in Semporna, Sabah.
The kidnappers fled on the same speedboat they arrived in, said a Sabah police report.
The AFP’s Western Command on Thursday said military and police units had been deployed on the kidnappers’ possible entry points to the southern Philippines.
