Policeman impersonates as taxi driver to nab kidnappers

A policeman who went undercover as a taxi driver foiled two Bangladeshi kidnappers from collecting the ransom after a Rohingya was kidnapped at a supermarket near here yesterday.

Kota Tinggi police chief Supt Rahmat Othman said police arrested one of the two suspects two hours after a police report was made.

"The victim, a Rohingya was rescued when a policeman disguised as a taxi driver to bring the victim's 11-year-old son to deliver the ransom of RM5,000 in cash and jewellery.

"Another policeman hid in the back seat of the seat and both cops sprang into action to nab one of the kidnappers and rescued the victim," he said in a statement here this evening.

However, in the operation at an oil palm plantation near Taman Pasak Indah, Kota Tinggi, one of the kidnappers managed to escape, said Rahmat.

On the night of the incident, the victim, Ismail Ayub Khan, 34, had just finished shopping at a supermarket here at 8 pm when he was approached by two Bangladeshi men.

"Both men asked the victim for a ride in his car to Taman Pasak Indah as there were no taxis and when they reached a spot at an oil palm plantation both men bundled up the victim.

"The suspects later called the victim's wife and demanded for RM10,000 as ransom which was reduced to RM5,000 in cash and jewellery.

The kidnappers then instructed the wife to ask her eldest son to deliver the cash, failing which they threatened to kill her husband," he said.