Horror for mum after thief drives off with her car … with her kids inside!

JOHOR BARU: The daily routine of sending her two children to her father's house turned into a nightmare for a clinic assistant.

The 32-year-old woman arrived at her father's house at Taman Pulai Indah here with her three-year-old daughter and five-year-old son at around 7.45am on Thursday.

She parked the car and got down, with the engine still running, to take out an umbrella in the car's boot as it was raining, with her two children waiting in the car.

"A male suspect suddenly got into the car and drove it away," said Iskandar Puteri OCPD Asst Comm Noor Hashim Mohamad (pic).

He said the woman tried to hold on to the car but fell down and suffered minor injuries.

Her younger brother, having witnessed what was happening from their father's house, gave chase in his own car but failed to keep up.

ACP Noor Hashim said the suspect did not realise that the children were in the car at the time.

The suspect however abandoned the three-year-old girl a few metres away from the scene, and the five-year-old boy at the main entrance of the housing estate.

"Police found the car in the Ulu Choh area at about 8.45am and believed it was abandoned by the suspect after it rammed into a lorry," said ACP Noor Hashim.

The case is being investigated under Sections 395 and 363 of the Penal Code, and police are hunting for the suspect who had escaped together with an accomplice.