KUALA LUMPUR: The Armed Forces will investigate the alarming possibility that classified information transmitted between officers and agencies under the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) is being intercepted and used by enemies.

Its chief General Tan Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zin said that the recent spate of abduction cases in Sabah, notably the most recent kidnapping on Thursday, were carried out so smoothly and specifically as to suggest that the perpetrators had inside information.

“The abductors were not just wandering around hoping to come across targets. They must have identified their targets based on hard information.

“How did the abductors of the boat owner last Thursday know that he was on the vessel at 9.30pm? It can’t be coincidental that the abductors were in the area where the boat owner was,” he said, adding that there are too many “coincidences” in the case.

Zulkifeli, who is also the director-general of the National Security Council, said it seems that the enemies are also aware of the locations of patrolling ships along the 1,700km stretch of the Sabah shoreline.

“We believe the enemies are able to pinpoint the location of our surveillance ships – that’s one of the reasons they are able to sneak onto our shores unspotted,” he said during a press conference at Wisma Perwira, Ministry of Defence, Jalan Padang Tembak here today.

Earlier, Zulkifeli witnessed the duty handover ceremony between outgoing Armed Forces Joint Force Commander General Datuk Shahrani Mohd Sany and the incoming Datuk Fadzil Mokhtar.

Recently, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi raised concerns over possible information leaks that may be reaching enemies off Sabah’s east coast.-nst