Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said the police were taking the news report seriously.

“We will also step up efforts to identify anyone who may be involved in such plots,” he said in a statement.

However, he said the police have not received any confirmation from their Filipino counterparts on the alleged invasion plans.

Acryl Sani went on to say that such claims were likely based on information that had been manipulated by groups who were jealous of the level of security in the region and the close ties between Sabah and the southern Philippines.

Earlier today, Sabah police chief Idris Abdullah rubbished a news report on the supposed “invasion plans”.

Idris said the Philippines was preparing to hold its presidential election and all sorts of “untrue” stories were bound to surface during this period.

He added that while the information seemed “invalid”, authorities were still not taking anything for granted.

The South China Morning Post, quoting a senior regional security source reported earlier today that there was a secret meeting between 19 mayors of the Sulu archipelago to discuss plans to invade Sabah.

This meeting, said to have taken place on Dec 1 and conducted by “a locally elected official of Sulu province”, supposedly involved talks over recruiting up to 600 men in order to establish a “Royal Sulu Army”.