A military official on Sunday said '' the probability is high'' five Indonesian fishermen abducted by the alleged Abu Sayyaf in the waters of Sabah last January 17 are in Sulu.

“The probability is high but there are not yet on mainland Sulu. They are still in the island of Sulare because immediately after the incident we received a call from Malaysian authorities telling us eight were abducted somewhere in Tampisan in Lahad Datu, Sabah, Malaysia,” Western Mindanao Command chief Lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana told reporters.

According to Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi, out of the eight crew of a Malaysian fishing vessel, three were rescued by the Malaysian government.

Sobejana said an encounter transpired on Saturday which resulted to the death of one unidentified ASG member and the wreckage of their twin engine speed boat which was positively identified by the survivors.

According to the fishermen six unidentified men abducted them.

Sobejana said there are still no sightings on the five missing fishermen.

“Our effort is focus on them. Once the enemies were sighted and an encounter transpires, hopefully we safely rescue these five Indonesian nationals,” he said.

JTF Tawi-Tawi said they have directed all units to continue the conduct of intensified intelligence monitoring in the areas that might be used by the group as their ingress point. Ella Dionisio/DMS