JOHOR BARU: A man’s plan to extort money from his family members by staging his own abduction was uncovered when police arrested 12 other suspects involved in the scam.
Johor Police chief Datuk Mohd Khalil Kader Mohd said the Singaporean, in his 30s, was said to have been abducted by a group of men in the Setia Indah area on March 8.
“The suspects demanded and were paid the RM500,000 ransom by the man’s family, but the man’s wife, who is a 33-year-old Indonesian national, did not immediately lodge a police report.
“On March 21, the suspects demanded another RM170,000 and again the family paid the amount, but he was not released either. That was when the wife lodged a police report,“ he told a press conference here today.
Mohd Khalil said that following the report, police raided a premises in Stulang on the same day and rescued the man as well as arrested five men and a woman.
A series of arrests were then made at two different locations, which led to the arrest of four men in Bandar Penawar and two more men in Kluang.
“All the suspects are locals aged between 20 and 49,“ said Mohd Khalil, who added that further investigations led to the suspects revealing that the man and his wife had planned the whole thing to get money from his family.
“The man has been arrested and we are still tracking down his wife with the help of Indonesian police,“ he added.
Meanwhile, in another case, Mohd Khalil said various types of drugs weighing about 46kg and worth RM2.4 million were seized following the arrest of 12 people in Larkin and the Wilayah Iskandar development area here on Wednesday.
He said two of them were nabbed when police conducted a check on a BMW 528i car in Larkin at 8.30am while 10 others were arrested in several raids on the Wilayah Iskandar development area a few hours later.
He said it also led the police to seize a Glock pistol, 26 Luger 9mm bullets, two bullet shells, RM18,700 cash, 8 million Rupiah (about RM2,272.68) and the car used by the suspects.
“From the raids, police also seized a transparent plastic packet containing drugs believed to be syabu and marijuana weighing 5.82g and 1.59g respectively; 46 compressed lumps suspected to be syabu weighing 46kg; 25 Double Happiness white cigarette boxes; and three cars - Toyota Vios, Nissan Sentra and Perodua MyVi.
“We also seized a .38 revolver with 123 bullets, 35 9mm bullets and 112 psychotropic pills,“ he said, adding that all the suspects, aged between 20 and 46, were remanded for a week from March 21. — Bernama
