Man held for cheating Mount Kinabalu hikers

KOTA KINABALU: A woman contacted the registration counter in Kinabalu Park to confirm her plans to scale the famous peak later this year with three friends.

However to her shock, she was told their names were not on the list to climb Mount Kinabalu despite them having bought a climbing package.

The woman realised something was amiss when the man whom she paid the package could not be contacted and lodged a police report.

Kota Kinabalu police chief Asst Comm Habibi Majinji said an unemployed man had been arrested for cheating.

The 35-year-old man, who has 21 other reports lodged against him, is believed to have conned a total of RM29,100 for arranging fake trips to climb Mount Kinabalu since last year.

“The 36-year-old woman and her friends were supposed to climb the mountain on Oct 21 and 22 after paying a RM600 deposit to the man last November.

“But when she contacted the registration counter in Kinabalu Park to find out about the status of her booking, she was told that their names were not listed,” he said.

The woman, said ACP Habibi, then texted the man about the matter and he told her that he would get back to them.

However, the woman could not contact the man after that.

“She lodged a report early this month and we found there are 21 other reports against the suspect from victims in Sabah and Johor,” he said.

The man, who was arrested at a car park near a market in Menggatal not far from here on Aug 22, is remanded for four days for investigation under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.

He faces up to 10 years in jail, whipping and a fine for cheating.