THE Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom) has raised the security alert in the waters off the state’s east coast, following reports that a group of 10 armed Abu Sayyaf militants is plotting kidnappings there.

The agency today said it has received confirmation from its intelligence partners after an article on the alleged abduction plot was published on the portal Marine Link.

The alert warned that the militants are targeting businessmen or foreign ships’ crew members, and using unmarked blue-and-white motor bancas.

“ESSCom has mobilised its assets to the designated guard posts, and intensified patrolling in the waters in the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (ESSZone),” said ESSCom in a statement.

“We also appeal to the communities in ESSZone to provide us with information on suspicious movements near their areas.”

Numerous Sabahan communities live in ESSZone on the mainland and on 361 islands near Kudat, Kota Marudu, Pitas, Beluran, Sandakan, Kinabatangan, Lahad Datu, Kunak, Tawau and Semporna.

ESSZone covers a land area of 31,158 sq km and 1,733km of coastline, or 42% of the state.

The dusk-till-dawn curfew in ESSZone remains in force.

Last month, masked men armed with M16s, allegedly linked to Abu Sayyaf, which is based in Mindanao, southern Philippines, snatched two Indonesians from a fishing vessel, marking the first such incident Sabah has seen in almost two years.

Between March 2016 and April last year, said reports, attacks on merchant ships, largely claimed by Abu Sayyaf, saw 59 people kidnapped from 13 vessels in the region. – October 31, 2018.