Curfew in ESSZone extended until Feb 10

The curfew order in the coastal waters of the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (ESSZone) which is to end Sunday, has been extended from Jan 26 until Feb 10, from 7pm to 5am.

Sabah Police Commissioner, Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman said the decision to extend the curfew order covering six districts in eastern Sabah's coastal area was made in consideration of the security situation there and requests from many quarters.

"Based on these considerations, I am compelled to extend the curfew order after the end of the 11th phase tomorrow," he told reporters here Saturday.

The first phase of the curfew order in the ESSZone was enforced on July 19 last year, following a number of kidnapping incidents in various locatons in eastern Sabah, with the victims being locals and foreigners.

Meanwhile, Jalaluddin said marine police constable Zakia Ailep, 27, who was abducted by a group of armed intruders at a resort in Pulau Mabul last year, was safe and in good health.

He said the reported claims of Zakia getting infected with malaria were not true.

"Till now, we have the problem of the ransom demanded being too high and with the Philippine army and police hunting down the kidnappers, it is difficult to detect Zakia's location as the kidnappers keep moving from one place to another," he said.