2007 08: Boy freed before ransom collection, two nabbed

The Star Online. News. Nation. Tuesday July 31, 2007

JOHOR BARU: In another case of bungling kidnappers, the abductors of a six-year-old boy released him before collecting a RM3,000 ransom here.

The boy was found wandering in Skudai hours before his family was to drop the money at a location on July 16.

Police arrested two suspects, in their 20s, one of whom was picked up in Singapore last week.

In the earlier case on July 18, a group of kidnappers released a 16-year-old schoolboy in Sungai Petani before their accomplices could pick up a RM50,000 ransom in Penang.

In the Skudai incident, it is learnt that the boy’s grandfather was sending his two grandsons to kindergarten when a car bumped into his motorcycle at 7am.

They fell and three people came out of the car and bundled one of the boys into their car and drove off.

Several hours later, the boy’s father, who works in the shipping sector in Singapore, received a call asking for RM300,000 and not to report to the police.

But the parents, who informed the police, managed to reduce the amount to RM3,000, which was to be dropped off at an undisclosed location in Skudai.

Hours before the money was to be placed at the agreed location, the family got a call that police had found the boy wondering alone in the district. The kidnappers failed to show up at the drop-off point.

Police arrested the first suspect in Woodlands, Singapore, with the help of police there last week. The other suspect was picked up in Skudai.

A senior police officer said they were looking for another suspect.