KUALA LUMPUR: Two cousins staged a kidnapping to extort money from their aunt to pay off loan shark debts. Their mutual friend made calls to the woman to demand ransom.
But police saw through the scam, resulting in all three being nabbed.
Ampang Jaya police chief Asst Comm Abdul Jalil Hassan said the 15-year-old “victim”, had called his 42-year-old factory worker aunt at 10pm on Tuesday to say that he “needed help”.
She then lodged a report at Pandan Perdana police station.
“At the station, she continued to receive calls from the ‘kidnappers’,” ACP Abdul Jalil said. “We managed to reduce the ransom sum from RM10,000 to RM5,000. It was to be left at a pre-arranged spot in Puchong Perdana.
“We suspected something amiss when the victim’s cousin, a 21-year-old security guard who had accompanied the aunt, always stepped out of the station each time she received calls from the ‘kidnappers’.
“Under questioning, he confessed that he, a friend, and the victim had staged the kidnapping.
“He claimed that he needed money to clear his loan shark debts and that the other two were willing to help him.
“He would call his 26-year-old friend on the handphone and instruct him to contact his aunt. The friend would go to a public phone booth to call her.”
The teenager and the friend were found in the Damansara Utama area the next day.
In an unrelated case, police crippled a gang specialising in break-ins in Selangor and the city with the arrest of three suspects.
The “Tangkak Gang” is believed to have been responsible for more than 60 break-ins, especially in the Klang Valley, since last year.
ACP Abdul Jalil said following a tip-off, a team from the Ampang Jaya district police headquarters went to a double-storey house in Pandan Perdana at about 1pm on Tuesday and spotted five men behaving suspiciously in a Honda Civic car parked in front of it.
“When the police approached the men, they rushed out of the car and ran into the house,” ACP Abdul Jalil said.
“Police personnel gave chase and nabbed three men. Two others escaped through the back door.”
Police found six parangs, wire cutters and sledgehammers that the gang had used in the break-ins in the car and in the house, which the suspects had rented.
Also recovered were two Honda Civic cars, 45 bottles of liquor, 37 watches, 25 fake number plates, eight coin collections and six LCD screens, all worth about RM300,000.
