PEACEFUL WAY: 100 'Royal Sulu Army' members to be deported as soon as possible, says Sabah police chief
LAHAD DATU: THE band of armed Filipino intruders holed up at a coastal village near here has agreed to return home.
The group, which called itself the Royal Sulu Army, however, had asked to meet Datu Esmail Datu Kiram, a compatriot, whom they acknowledged as their sultan, before they left.
Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib yesterday said they were now trying to arrange for Datu Esmail to meet the group before the intruders were deported as soon as possible.
He said this after a closed-door briefing at the General Operations Force 17th Battalion in Sahabat 16. Present was Bukit Aman Internal Security and Public Order director Datuk Seri Salleh Mat Rasid.
Hamza said that the situation remained under control in the area and denied that some of the suspects had been arrested.
"They are surrounded by our security forces and nobody can come in and out of this area. We know their numbers and where they are located."
The government has taken a soft approach in its negotiation to end the stand-off as the group did not come here as a militant group such as the Abu Sayyaf.
"You have to look at it from many perspectives. They came here because of certain demands.
"One of them is for the Sulu people, who have been staying in the state for a long period of time, not to be deported back as the result of the Royal Commission of Inquiry."
Over 100 members of the armed group landed near the village of about 50 houses on Tuesday.
Security forces were subsequently deployed to surround the area within the Felda Sahabat 17 plantation which is about 22km from the Philippines border.
The armed group leader has been identified by the Philippine media as Raja Muda Azzimudie Kiram, a descendant of the Royal Sulu family.
Kampung Tanduo resident Ben Hamid, who had fled his house on Tuesday and taken shelter in Tanjung Labian, said he believed the authorities would want to resolve the situation amicably.
"From what I saw, there was no tension when our authorities were in discussion with them," he said revealing that he was alerted about the group arriving in their village by his sister in the early hours of Tuesday.
Ben said the group's members who had firearms told him they did not have any bad intention, but wanted to make some demands to the Malaysian authorities.
In Kluang, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein gave an assurance that the police and other security agencies were fully capable of handling the situation in Lahad Datu.
He said the group did not pose a threat to Sabah and its people, but had violated Malaysia's Immigration Act.
"We are now in the process of deporting them in a peaceful and humane manner without any threat or risk to anyone's life."
Read more: Intruders agree to return home - General - New Straits Times
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