KOTA KINABALU: EFFORTS to secure the release of a policeman kidnapped by gunmen from a resort off Semporna in July continue.
Sabah police commissioner Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman yesterday said they had offered half the ransom demanded by the gunmen.
“They refused and insisted on the original sum,” he said, adding that 68 telephone calls have been made since Corporal Zakiah Aleip was kidnapped on July 12.
“Zakiah is well and the last call was to his wife and father on Friday afternoon. The wife spoke to the leader of the group,” Jalaluddin revealed.
Zakiah was on duty at a resort on Pulau Mabul when the gunmen from the southern Philippines attacked.
His colleague, Corporal Abdul
Rajah Jamuan, was killed in the attack.
The gunmen were always on the move in southern Philippines, together with Zakiah, Jalaluddin said in a press conference here.
Meanwhile, the police would continue the 10-hour curfew in six districts within the Eastern Sabah Safety Zone for another two weeks that began yesterday.
It was the fifth extension since the curfew began on July 19.
“The order was extended because we believe the threats still exist, especially from intruders who are waiting to commit crimes that include kidnapping.”
“Stakeholders such as fish farm operators, tour agents, fishermen and the people who live on the shores of the east coast of Sabah fully support the curfew because
it gives them a sense of security,” he said.
Since the curfew was imposed, police arrested 92 people and seized 26 boats in the prohibited areas.
Out of that total, 34 were fined and 23 were jailed for not observing the curfew.
Regarding the police investigations into the call made for Sabah to secede from Malaysia, Jalaluddin said three people are now wanted for investigations.
Two of them would be investigated for making seditious remarks and the other for making libellous claims, he said.
“They are not currently in Sabah but still within the country and police had acquired their backgrounds.”