Three missing Ranau girls found in Sandakan

KOTA KINABALU: Three Ranau girls, who were reported missing since last Friday (May 10), have been found in Sandakan.

Ranau OCPD Deputy Supt Simiun Lomudin confirmed on Wednesday (May 15) that the girls were safe and in Sandakan, about 200km from the Ranau district.

He said they were being brought back to Ranau for questioning before being handed over to their respective families.

"Three teenagers are safe and had gone to Sandakan to search for work," he said.

DSP Simiun said that the girls - two aged 12 and one 15 - had gone to Sandakan on a bus, not in a car with an unknown man as previously reported.

According to the Info Sabah Facebook page, one of the girls had called her mother at around 5.30pm on Tuesday (May 14) to inform her that they were in Sandakan.

She told her mother that they had gone to Sandakan to find work to earn money to buy a smartphone.

The three girls had left their homes in Kampung Kaingaran at 7.30am on Friday to attend silat training at a school and were not seen since then.

A missing persons report was only lodged by the family members at 8.48pm on Monday (May 13) and police immediately issued public notices to assist in tracing the whereabouts of the girls.

In an earlier statement following the report, DSP Simiun said that initial investigation found that the three girls were last seen by the public at about 8.30am on Monday in Ranau town.

Previously, it was claimed that the three were spotted getting off a minibus before being picked up by a man who then took them into a white Perodua Viva car.