BUKIT MERTAJAM: A nine-month-old baby girl was rescued by police five hours after she was abducted by her babysitter’s granddaughter in Bukit Tengah here.
Central Seberang Prai OCPD Asst Comm Tan Cheng Shan said the baby was rescued after police arrested five suspects, including three teenagers aged between 14 and 43, in two different locations on Tuesday.
The main suspect is the babysitter’s 14-year-old granddaughter.
The rest are her boyfriend, a teen male friend, the boyfriend’s mother, and the latter’s husband.
The baby’s mother only found out about the abduction when she went to the babysitter’s Bukit Tengah apartment to fetch her daughter.
She was then told by the apartment security guard that the suspect had fled the scene on a motorcycle while holding the baby.
ACP Tan said the police, acting on a report lodged by the baby’s mother at the Bukit Tengah police station, raided a location in Machang Bubok where they stumbled upon the 14-year-old girl and her two male friends, both 18, at about 11.50pm.
“They were hanging out at a hut located by the roadside.
“During the raid, police had already cordoned off the area before making the move to raid the hut.
“Startled by the ambush, the three suspects were shocked when they saw that police had surrounded them,” ACP Tan said during a press conference at the central Seberang Prai police headquarters yesterday.
He said that during interrogation, police were led to a house in Kulim at about midnight where they rescued the victim from a 43-year-old woman and her 30-year-old husband.
He said further investigation found that the 14-year-old was a girlfriend to one of the teenage suspects in the first raid, and the 43-year-old woman was the mother of the girl’s boyfriend.
ACP Tan also said the baby girl was safely rescued from the house.
The suspects were detained for their alleged involvement in abducting the baby from her 65-year-old babysitter at about 5pm on Tuesday.
When asked if the incident was related to an abduction syndicate, ACP Tan said there was no transaction or ransom made when the baby was taken.
He, however, said police were still investigating all aspects of the case.
The suspects have been remanded for four days until tomorrow.
