MELAKA: A 55-year-old woman staged her own kidnapping and demanded a ransom of RM70,000 in an attempt to persuade her family to pay off debts owed to ten loan sharks.
Melaka Tengah OCPD Asst Comm Christopher Patit reported that the suspect, a resident of Taman Kota Laksamana, was detained by police officers from the Melaka police headquarters at 3:30pm on Friday (Oct 11) in Muar, Johor.
"The suspect was discovered inside a surau at a petrol station by the police, who also confiscated two mobile phones believed to have been used in the fake kidnapping," he said.
According to ACP Christopher Patit, the drama unfolded when the suspect requested her 22-year-old son to drive her to a hypermarket at 11:15pm on Thursday (Oct 10) to pay her phone bill via a payment kiosk.
After waiting for almost an hour at the car park, the son received a message on his mother’s phone, which had been left in the car. The message read: “If you want your mother to be safe, don’t call the police, or I will kill her. Get RM70,000 ready if you want her back.”
In a panic, the son immediately lodged a police report after failing to locate her at the hypermarket.
ACP Christopher Patit noted that the suspect had walked to the Melaka Sentral bus terminal and travelled to Muar the same day. She chose to stay at the surau due to limited funds and was awaiting a response from her husband regarding the ransom.
"The suspect admitted that she faked her abduction out of desperation to pay RM15,000 to ten loan sharks and that she was the one who typed the threatening message sent to her son," he said.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect and her family operate a restaurant and are currently facing financial difficulties, including unpaid salaries to their workers.
The suspect confessed that her husband and children were unaware of her dealings with illegal moneylenders and that she had staged the kidnapping to pressure her family into raising the ransom money.
She has been remanded for six days to assist in the ongoing investigation.
