Malaysian police yesterday said the Philippines’ Abu Sayyaf militant Islamist group was believed to be behind the killing of a Taiwanese tourist and the kidnapping of his wife.
Unidentified gunmen shot dead 57-year-old Hsu Li-min (許立民) and kidnapped his female companion, 58-year-old Chang An-wei (張安薇), early on Friday on Pom Pom Island, a popular scuba diving location in the eastern state of Sabah on Borneo Island.
The incident — in a remote part that was rocked earlier this year by a bloody Philippine militant incursion — has underlined continued threats in the region despite a Malaysian security clampdown.
Police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said Abu Sayyaf was suspected to be behind the attack.
“We believe the terrorists were able to slip in because there has been a big mobilization of resources of the Philippine armed forces from the country’s south to the north to help out in relief work for victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan,” he was quoted by national news agency Bernama as saying.
Khalid added the attackers were believed to have come in a group of eight in a speedboat.
Authorities are still trying to find the kidnapped woman with help from their Philippine counterparts, he said.
Local authorities said yesterday that Chang is likely still alive, but her armed captors may have taken her to an island off the Philippines.
Funded by the late al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden in the 1990s, Abu Sayyaf has targeted foreigners with kidnappings for ransom and has been accused of most of the Philippines’ deadliest insurgent attacks.
The southern Philippines is just a short boat ride away from Sabah’s east coast.
Meanwhile, Sabah Police Commissioner Hamza Taib said Hsu’s body has been sent to a nearby hospital for an autopsy.
Police are continuing to gather information from the other tourists at the resort, who reportedly have not left the island and will continue with their vacation plans. Chang and Hsu checked into the resort on Tuesday and were scheduled to check out on Wednesday this week.
Their family has asked Taiwan’s government for assistance.
Hsu Li-min’s elder brother, Hsu Li-jen (許立人), said he found it unbelievable that a shooting like this could take place at a popular tourist resort, urging Taiwan to help his family find justice.
The elder Hsu said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has conveyed the family’s wishes that Malaysian authorities not conduct an autopsy without the family present.
The family of the deceased is scheduled to travel to Malaysia tomorrow to put his affairs in order.
Additional reporting by CNA
Intelligence agents have recorded 510,000 instances of “controversial information” being spread online by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) so far this year, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report yesterday, as it warned of artificial intelligence (AI) being employed to generate destabilizing misinformation. The bureau submitted a written report to the Legislative Yuan in preparation for National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee today. The CCP has been using cognitive warfare to divide Taiwanese society by commenting on controversial issues such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) investments in the
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
‘COMPREHENSIVE PLAN’: Lin Chia-lung said that the government was ready to talk about a variety of issues, including investment in and purchases from the US The National Stabilization Fund (NSF) yesterday announced that it would step in to staunch stock market losses for the ninth time in the nation’s history. An NSF board meeting, originally scheduled for Monday next week, was moved to yesterday after stocks plummeted in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s announcement of 32 percent tariffs on Taiwan on Wednesday last week. Board members voted to support the stock market with the NT$500 billion (US$15.15 billion) fund, with injections of funds to begin as soon as today. The NSF in 2000 injected NT$120 billion to stabilize stocks, the most ever. The lowest amount it
NEGOTIATIONS: Taiwan has good relations with Washington and the outlook for the negotiations looks promising, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo said Taiwan’s GDP growth this year is expected to decrease by 0.43 to 1.61 percentage points due to the effects of US tariffs, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei yesterday, citing a preliminary estimate by a private research institution. Taiwan’s economy would be significantly affected by the 32 percent “reciprocal” tariffs slapped by the US, which took effect yesterday, Liu said, adding that GDP growth could fall below 3 percent and potentially even dip below 2 percent to 1.53 percent this year. The council has commissioned another institution
RSS