Second Lahad Datu kidnap victim may not be dead

KOTA KINABALU: Tung Wee Wei (aka Chong Wei Fei) may not be dead after all as his cousin admitted that he was taken away by the kidnappers while suffering from hypertension.

Tung Wee Jei (aka Chong Wei Jie) who escaped from his Abu Sayaff captors in Jolo last week, said he never saw his cousin Wee Wei, 34, dying

The 25-year-old Wee Jei only said that his cousin was suffering from hypertension during their captivity, and he was told that he (Wee Wei) was taken to a hospital.

Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib said police were now checking with various sources to verify if Wee Wei died during captivity or was still alive.

The cousins were grabbed by gunmen from their family plantation in Tambisan Lahad Datu on Nov 14, last year and were taken to Jolo where they were kept chained in a bamboo hut until April 17. They were separated when Wee Wei fell sick.

Wee Jei said the armed group claimed that they had sent his cousin to hospital.

Philippines officials were reported as saying that they were planning an operation in the area Wee Jei had been held in efforts to locate Wee Wei.

Wee Jei, who was fed rice and salted fish during his captivity and managed to unshackle himself using a fork, is now reunited with his family in Port Dickson after he was flown here last Wednesday.

In an interview on Sunday, Wee Wei’s father Tung Ah Tey, 62, said he first heard from his son in January and then from his nephew Wee Jei on April 18. The abductors had also asked him to go to Jolo to pay a ransom for their release.

Source : Borneo Insider