Kidnappers demand US$11m to release Shanghai hostage
Print Edition
KIDNAPPERS based in the southern Philippines have demanded more than US$11 million in ransom for a Chinese tourist abducted from a Malaysian dive resort.
Malaysian Home Affairs Minister Zahid Hamidi said the family of Gao Huayun from Shanghai, who was kidnapped by gunmen on April 2 along with a Filipina resort worker, are negotiating with her abductors through an intermediary.
“The kidnappers have asked for 36.4 million ringgit (US$11.25 million). Gao’s family has appointed someone to negotiate for her safe release,” Zahid said yesterday. “We hope this case can be settled as soon as possible.”
He gave no further details.
Gao, who is 29, and Filipina resort worker Marcy Dayawan, 40, were taken from the Singamata Reef Resort in Malaysia’s Borneo island state of Sabah in a late-night raid by a group of gunmen.
The area of eastern Sabah is famed for its world-class scuba diving but also notorious for lawlessness and kidnappings blamed on bandits from the southern Philippines.
The Philippine military said last week the Abu Sayyaf, a small band of Islamic militants infamous for kidnappings for ransom, are the prime suspects.
It said the Philippines had responded by deploying soldiers to the remote Tawi-Tawi islands, where the gunmen were believed to have taken the women in a speedboat.
Philippine authorities said yesterday they had no knowledge of the ransom negotiations.
The abductors are believed to be affiliated with Abu Sayyaf “sub-commander” Murphy Ambang Ladjia, who was involved in kidnapping 21 people from another Sabah diving resort in 2000.
Twenty of those hostages were released within five months, reportedly after hefty ransoms were paid. A Filipino captive was held until 2003.
The Philippine government ramped up security last year after an incursion by Filipino Muslim militants that left dozens dead, and subsequently declared eastern Sabah safe for tourism.
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