The 31-year-old wanted man, also known as Komander Paliyak @ Yusuf, is also believed to have been a scout and informant for the Remy Gang, a kidnap-for-ransom group, which was involved in cross-border crimes in the waters off southern Philippines and Sabah’s east coast.
Acting on a tip-off, a team from the Eastern Sabah Security Command’s (Esscom) special forces and Lahad Datu marine police was dispatched to the waters off Silam on a boat, said Sabah Police Commissioner Ramli Din during a press conference here today.
During the 3am patrol, the team detected a boat near Pulau Kantong Kalungan operated by a man in a suspicious manner.
When the security team members approached the boat and identified themselves, the boat suddenly sped off and a shot was fired at the security personnel. The team then returned fire.
A few minutes later, the patrol team approached the boat and found the man lying dead inside with gunshot wounds, Ramli said.
The team found a modified pump gun and a spent cartridge in its chamber as well as a 12-bore round inside the boat.
When the security personnel checked the man’s body, they found nine old scars on his right thigh, stomach and right arm, believed to have been caused by gunshots and explosions.
His left middle finger was missing as a result of an old injury.
“We believe the suspect went out to sea to scout the movements of the security forces before relaying the intelligence to his kidnapping gang which wanted to carry out their activities in the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone),” said Ramli.
“Further investigations revealed Abu Paliyak had been involved in several robberies and kidnappings in the waters off Kunak and Lahad Datu around 2014.
“We will conduct further investigations to find any other scouts or informants and members of the group.
“We believe we have solved several criminal cases in the Esszone in 2014 and 2015.”
Kidnapping for ransom and piracy had occurred in waters off Sabah’s east coast but none were reported so far this year.
Several people are on Esscom’s list of people wanted for cross-border maritime crimes.
They include Abu Paliyak and Badong Muktadil, also a member of the Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group, who was reported to have been killed by Philippine security forces recently.
Esscom chief Hazani Ghazi earlier told FMT that Esscom would get more details and intelligence from their Philippine counterpart on Badong and other members of his group.
After the 2013 Lahad Datu intrusion by militants from the so called Sulu sultanate in the southern Philippines, security along the state’s east coast was significantly beefed up.
The east coast of Sabah has been designated as a special security area, the Esszone, which falls under the responsibility of Esscom.