The East Sabah Security Command (Esscom) foiled six kidnapping attempts before the recent abduction from a Sandakan seaside restaurant earlier this month.

Esscom commander Abdul Rashid Harun said this while seeking Sabah coastal residents to cooperate with security personnel in strengthening security in the region, Bernama reported.

"Esscom will streamline and draw up various strategies to prevent intrusion by remnants of the cross-border criminals (from the southern region of the Philippines) into Sabah via the ESSZone waters using existing assets," he reportedly said.

Four gunmen kidnapped a restaurant owner and a diner from Ocean King restaurant in Sandakan on May 14.

The victims are in good health and are moved by kdnappers from one southern Philippine island to another to avoid detection, Sabah police said.

Last July, gunmen killed police and kidnapped a woman from the resort island of Mabul, also in eastern Sabah.

Two women including a Chinese national were taken from a resort in Semporna in the same region in April 2014.

In 2013, a tourist was killed while his wife kidnapped from a Sipadan resort near Sandakan.

More than 20 people including tourists were taken hostage by Abu Sayyaf at a resort in Sipadan in the year 2000.