Extremists threaten to kill Malaysian hostage

DPA/Kuala Lumpur

Philippine extremists are threatening to kill a Malaysian captive after his family failed to raise ransom money, a news report said yesterday.

The wife of Chan Sai Chiun, 32, said the Abu Sayyaf rebels holding her husband expressed their impatience over the failure of the family to raise 3mn ringgit ($914,000) for ransom, according to the Star newspaper.

“They told me my husband is sick and is dying,” she said. “I don’t know if they are telling me the truth but I’m very scared.”

Chan and an employee were kidnapped in June at his fish farm in Kunak town in the state of Sabah, 1,840 kilometres east of Kuala Lumpur.

The worker was released a few hours later, but Chan was taken to an Abu Sayyaf stronghold on Jolo Island in the southern Philippines

A police source in Sabah said authorities were trying to verify the report that the Al Qaeda-linked guerrillas have threatened to kill the hostage.

“We received such a report but that is still subject to confirmation,” he said.

The Abu Sayyaf rebels are also holding Malaysian police officer Zakiah Aleip, 26, who was captured in Sabah in July.