MANILA, Philippines (Eagle News) — The Western Mindanao Command (WMC) is now conducting intelligence operations to determine whether the three Malaysian fishermen, earlier snatched off Sempurnah, Sabah, were taken to Tawi-Tawi by still unidentified armed men.
This was disclosed by WMC Spokesperson Major Filemon Tan in an interview Monday, September 12.
Focus of the intelligence operations is to identify the whereabouts of the victims and to intercept plus rescue them immediately.
However, tan is not discounting the possibility that the suspects have taken the victims to an unpopulated Malaysian-owned island due to poor weather conditions and rough seas prevailing in Tawi-Tawi and other nearby areas.
He also said that they were looking into two angles — one — some criminal groups are interested in making money out of the incident
The other is that some sympathizers of the Abu Sayyaf did the kidnapping to distract the Philippine military from their ongoing operations.
