A ransom was paid to Abu Sayyaf militants in Southern
Philippines last week to secure the release of the four Malaysian hostages
abducted by the group earlier.
This revelation was made by the now-freed hostages
themselves, the Sin Chew Daily reported.
The four, namely Wong Teck Kang, 31; Wong Teck Chii, 29;
Johnny Lau Jung Hien, 21; and Wong Hung Sing, 34; held a press conference this
morning in Sibu to thank those who contributed towards the ransom demanded,
which according to previous reports, amounted to some RM400,000.
The four wouldn’t however, reveal the actual amount paid to
the kidnappers for their release.
During this morning’s press conference, the four men knelt
to show their gratitude to well-wishers who had helped their respective
families during their 69 days in captivity.
The information the four revealed however was in contrast to
that of Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar, who denied last
week that a ransom had been paid to the kidnappers.
The IGP also denied that the families of the abducted had
passed the ransom money collected from the public, to the police.
Previous news reports also stated that the families of the
victims had been bombarded with calls from members of the public, demanding to
know what had happened to the ransom money they had raised.
The four men were abducted from a tugboat by gunmen in
international waters off Pulau Ligitan in Sabah on April 1 and released on June
9.
The gunmen had initially demanded a ransom of 300 million
pesos (about RM30 million) for the release of the four, but the amount was
subsequently dropped to 180 million pesos (about RM18 million).
Several rounds of negotiations reportedly took place between
the militants and Malaysian and Filipino authorities prior to their release.
The four were taken for an eight-hour ride from Jolo, in the
Philippines to Sandakan after the conclusion of successful negotiations, and
were then flown to Kota Kinabalu, where police recorded their statements.
Source –FMT-
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