Military on lookout for five missing Malaysians after tugboat attacked in Sabah

January 19, 2020

The military is checking if the five alleged Malaysians who went missing after their tugboat was attacked by unidentified gunmen in the waters of Sabah were brought to the Philippines.

According to Joint Task Force (JTF) Tawi-Tawi in a text message, they have received information from their Malaysian counterparts about a tugboat that was attacked by identified suspects last January 17.

The incident took place at 3 pm on Friday, said Major Arvin Encinas, Western Mindanao Command spokesman, in a text message.

Out of the tugboat's total of eight crewmen, three were rescued in the area of Lahad Datu, Sabah.

“JTF Tawi-Tawi directed all units to continue the conduct of intensified intelligence monitoring in the areas that might be used by the group as their ingress point.” it said. Ella Dionisio/DMS