The whereabouts of the gunmen who abducted six foreign workers from a Malaysian resort in eastern Sabah state on Borneo island earlier this month are still unknown, a minister said Saturday.

"We have not heard anything so far, but we're continuing with our efforts. We don't know where (they are) actually," Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.

Malaysian security forces were working with their Philippine counterparts to locate the kidnappers and the victims but had yet to make any headway, he said.

The armed raiders have demanded RM10 million (US$2.6 million) in exchange for their captives' release, but Malaysia will not pay the ransom, deputy home minister Chor Chee Heung said this week.

Foreign help?

Police had said the kidnapping of the Indonesian and Filipino workers from the tiny Borneo Paradise Resort on October 5 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