Chinese fishing manager abducted in Malaysia by Filipinos in May is released

Map of Sabah. Photo by Cccefalon / Wikimedia Commons.

BEIJING—A Chinese citizen kidnapped in the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah a month ago has been freed, the official Xinhua News Agency and a Malaysian newspaper reported Thursday.

Quoting an unnamed official from the Chinese Embassy in Malaysia, Xinhua said the abductee, who is from the southwestern Chinese provide of Guizhou and worked in a Malaysian fishing company, had been released.

Malaysia’s English-language newspaper The Star said the freed man would be taken to Kuala Lumpur before being sent back to China.

Yang Zailin, a manager at Wonderful Terrace Fish Farm, was kidnapped by five men clad in military fatigues on May 6. The men were believed to be Filipinos.

His abduction was part of a spate of kidnappings that threatened the security in Sabah, a popular tourist destination and dive spot that is a short boat ride from the southern Philippines, where Muslim militants and kidnap gangs have long had a safe haven.