 PETALING JAYA, April 10 — Kidnappers have demanded 500 million pesos (RM36.4 million) for the release of a Chinese tourist whom they forcibly grabbed from a Sabah resort near Semporna last week, Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi revealed today. He added that Malaysia has sent a team to negotiate the payment. “We have received a note that the kidnapper, or kidnappers for that matter have asked about 500 million pesos that is equivalent to RM36.4 million worth of ransom. “And we have send our team, the police and the negotiators to discuss through their so-called appointed middle person to negotiate about the reduction of ransoms,” he told reporters here after appearing on a television programme by broadcaster TV3. Zahid said no demand for ransom was made for the Filipina resort worker, Marcy Dayawan.  On April 2, just a day after the Eastern Sabah Security Command’s (Esscom) first anniversary, six gunmen snatched Gao Huayun, 28, and Filipina, Marcy Dayawan, a 40-year-old receptionist from the Singamata Reef Resort near Semporna. Sabah police have since reclassified the abductions as kidnappings after allegedly receiving phone calls from the perpetrators, but had refused to divulge information on the ransom demands. The Abu Sayyaf, a group of Filipino militants known to have taken several tourists and Malaysians hostage for ransom, are the suspected perpetrators. Suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen also abducted a Taiwanese tourist last November from Pulau Pom Pom, off Sabah’s east coast, killing her husband during the abduction. Today, Zahid insisted that Esscom is not a failure and had played its role according to the standard operating procedures that had been set. “We are going to tighten the activities within the Esszone and equipment and assets will be deployed within the Esszone,” he said, using the acronym for the Eastern Sabah Security Zone. He said the police is working with the military, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency as well as collaborating with the Philippines’ coast guard and armed forces to secure the area. The former defence minister also said the ministry will ask the 11 resorts in the area to install high definition closed-circuit television on their premises to prevent future intrusions and kidnappings. Esscom was set up in 2013 shortly after the month-long Lahad Datu intrusion which killed 10 Malaysian security forces. It covers 1,400 km of the east coast of Sabah from Kudat to Tawau. The security area is meant to strengthen maritime security in the eastern part of Sabah following the invasion crisis and prevent terrorist activities in the waters of Sabah. MMail
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