Police are still hunting for four suspects and their two kidnap victims following the incident at a seafood restaurant in Sandakan, about 335km from Kota Kinabalu, last night.

Sabah police chief Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman said other than taking down the statements of witnesses and restaurant workers, the police also seized 15 cellphones belonging to the workers.

In the incident at 7.26pm, the victims, Thien Nyuk Fun, 50, from Taman Mawar, Jalan Sibuga, Sandakan, and a consultant from Kuala Lumpur, Bernard Then, 39, were kidnapped at the Ocean King Restaurant by four men dressed in fatigues and using a speedboat.

“Preliminary investigations reveal that Thien had dined at table number 98 with her two children, who were the owners of the restaurant, and a friend of her late husband.

“Then, who arrived in Sandakan yesterday morning for a three-day holiday with his wife and a friend, were at table 67.

“The incident took place when Thien was sitting alone after her dinner. Her two children had continued their work and her late husband’s friend had gone to the toilet, while Then was still eating,” Jalaluddin said in a statement in Kota Kinabalu today.

Based on closed circuit television (CTV) recordings, Jalaluddin said, the suspects were seen to have arrived via the back of the restaurant and did not don face masks.

He said one suspect wore a blue T-shirt and fatigue pants while the rest wore full fatigue uniforms, with one draping an ammunition belt over a shoulder.

They had rifles and pistols, he said.

“Despite the exposed faces of the suspects, the witnesses dared not look at their faces (to avoid repercussions),” he said.

Jalaluddin said the hunt for the suspects was being aided by the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Essom) headed by its commander Abdul Rashid Harun, Marine Police, General Operations Force, Special Branch and Malaysian Armed Forces.

- Bernama