Kidnapping ringleader suspect shot dead in plantation

NIBONG TEBAL: Police have shot dead a 25-year-old Myanmar national suspected to have masterminded the kidnapping of his fellow countryman.

Penang police chief Comm Datuk Sahabudin Abd Manan said the suspect had assaulted a policeman when they raided a hut in an oil palm estate in Paya Keladi, Kepala Batas, at about 1.30am yesterday.

The man attacked the policeman with a parang when he tried to enter the hut, forcing other officers to fire several shots at him.

“The policeman sustained minor injuries but the suspect was killed at the scene,” Comm Sahabudin said during a press conference at the South Seberang Prai district police headquarters in Jawi.

He said that on Aug 17, police launched an investigation into the kidnapping of a 37-year-old caretaker of a fish pond in Jalan Changkat, Nibong Tebal.

“The suspect had demanded a RM15,000 ransom from the victim’s wife.

“The victim’s wife, who was in Myanmar, paid RM14,020 through an online account before the money was channelled to several other local accounts.

“Based on this information, police launched an operation in Sungai Lalang in Bedong, Kedah, where three men comprising two locals and a Myanmar national were nabbed.

“The operation led to the arrest of another Myanmar national, who, after interrogation, released the victim from a house in a rubber estate in Bukit Lembu.

“Police then launched several raids in Penang and arrested seven more suspects in connection with the case,” Comm Sahabudin said, adding that the 11 suspects were aged between 18 and 45.

Three of the suspects would be charged for kidnapping and three others for entering the country illegally, he said.

Another five, all locals, were released. Police are still looking for another suspect who is at large.