‘IT WAS NZ MUM WHO TOOK KIDS’

She was one of three people who took siblings away from kindergarten

POLICE have confirmed that a woman who abducted two siblings from a kindergarten in Section 16 here on Thursday is their biological mother.

Sources said investigators believed the mother of the siblings — Raheel Khan Mohd Saleem, 6, and Aleya Reyhana, 4 — was one of three people who had abducted the children from their kindergarten-cum-daycare centre.

“We have looked at it from several aspects and found that the woman who took them from the kindergarten was their mother.

“She was aided by two other people whose identities we have yet to establish,” said one source.

In the 9am incident, the children were said to have been taken away by three people, including a woman. When their aunt came to pick them up later, a teacher told her that a woman had taken the children claiming that she was taking them for medical checkups.

A police source said the mother claimed that she would bring the children back to the centre after their check-ups.

District police chief Assistant Commissioner Mohd Zani Che Din said police were tracing the whereabouts of the woman.

In Shah Alam, the children’s aunt, Najmah Mohd Haslam, 42, said the family was in the dark as to who had abducted them or where they were now.

However, she said the family suspected the children had been taken by their biological mother, who divorced their father in 2016.

“We believe that their mother, who is a New Zealander, might be behind their disappearance.

“But, we cannot gain access to the closed-circuit television camera (CCTV) footage from the kindergarten to confirm this.”

She said the family had never stopped their mother from seeing the children.

“We have tried contacting her but she has not been cooperating. She has blocked our calls and messages. This reaction from her increases our suspicions that the children might be with her.”

She said the family was worried because the mother might take the children to New Zealand if they were not found.

“My brother has not slept since the day they were taken and is worried about their safety.

“I hope the police can help us recover the CCTV footage or show it to us so we know that the children are safe with their mother,” she said, adding that a report on their disappearance was lodged the same night.