Armed raiders who kidnapped six foreign workers from a resort in Sabah in early October have demanded RM10 million in exchange for their captives' release, Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Heung said today.

However Chor Chee Heung added the government will not pay the ransom.

"The issue of whether we will pay the ransom or not does not arise. A criminal act must be resolved in the same way we fight crime," he was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.

Chor said the police were investigating the person who demanded the ransom money.

An unidentified person, believed to be a local speaking in Malay, used a cellular phone to contact the police, the resort operator and the family of one of the hostages after the tiny Borneo Paradise Resort in eastern Sabah state was hit by the band of 10 gunmen on Oct 5.

Local criminals

Chor said police do not know where the kidnappers are holding their captives but investigations reveal they are safe and healthy, according to Bernama .

Police had said the kidnapping of the three Indonesian and three Filipino workers was carried out by local criminals or "pirates" who may have had foreign help.

Although some of the kidnappers were wearing military fatigues and carried assault rifles, police ruled out that they were members of the Philippine Muslim rebel group Abu Sayyaf, which carried out similar raids by boat on the Sipadan resort in Sabah twice in 2000, kidnapping tourists and demanding ransoms.

The Sipadan hostages were shipped to the southern Philippine island of Jolo where they were held for nearly a year in the jungle. They were later ransomed for millions of dollars.

Malaysian police have said they believe the gunmen are still in Malaysian waters.

Malaysia had already beefed up security around the many resorts in Sabah after the previous kidnapping incidents, but the United States maintains an advisory warning its citizens against travel to the area. - AFP