SEMPORNA: Five armed men were arrested this morning for trying to sneak into Malaysian waters near the Mataking resort island.
In the 9.45am incident, the Malaysian Armed Forces Joint Task Force 2 (ATB 2) detected a boat, with five individuals onboard, coming from neighbouring Sitangkai waters off the southern Philippines.
Joint Task Force 2 commander Brigadier General Datuk Zarondin Md Amin, in a statement, said a team was immediately deployed to intercept the suspicious boat.
“After intercepting, our personnel inspected the passengers (five men), aged between 28 and 45, and found they had no identification documents.
“The team also found two firearms - a pistol with 18 rounds of .9mm ammunition and a shotgun with 33 rounds,” he said.
Zarondin did not rule out the possibility that the group might have been planning to carry out cross-border crimes, including kidnapping.
“All suspects were detained and placed under close surveillance. The seized firearms and boat were taken to the security base on Pulau Mataking and handed over to the Semporna police headquarters for further action,” he said.