TWO Indonesians working for a Sabah fishing boat firm may have been kidnapped in waters off Semporna about 1am today.

Four crews members, all of whom were Indonesian nationals, were onboard the Sabah-registered fishing boat trying to dock at the Pulau Gaya Jetty in Semporna, in Sabah’s east coast.

“At 1am, one of the crew members heard the engines of a pump boat nearing their fishing boat and moments later, there was no power supply on the boat,” according to a police preliminary report on the incident.

One of the four crew members allegedly saw two men armed with rifles and talking in Suluk (a southern Filipino ethnic group), said the report.

Two of the tried to hide and an hour later, when they emerged from their hiding spot, they discovered that two of their fellow crew members had gone missing along with the boat’s radio.

The two crew members managed to bring the boat back to the Seafest jetty in Semporna town around 5am and lodged a police report at 6.30am.

The incident is the first kidnapping incident here since 2016 after the authorities imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew four years ago.

The 6pm-to-6am curfew covers areas up to three nautical miles off Tawau, Semporna, Kunak, Lahad Datu, Kinabatangan, Sandakan and Beluran. However, fishing companies with valid permits are still permitted to go out to the sea during those hours.

The Warisan-led government is reviewing proposals to allow pump boats operated by fishermen to be exempted from the curfew. – September 11, 2018.