IT WAS A FAKE KIDNAPPING! Poly student pulled stunt to fool her friends

KUALA TERENGGANU - A female student of Politeknik Ibrahim Sultan in Pasir Gudang, Johor is staring at a six-month jail term or RM2,000 fine or both for lodging a false report about being kidnapped on Friday.

Terengganu CID chief ACP Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Hamzah said the student had fabricated stories about being kidnapped by three individuals when she was in front of her rented house in Pasir Gudang on Friday.

He said she resorted to the act after failing to complete her assignments.

"We investigated further last night and found the statement of the 20-year-old student was at odds and she later admitted her report was false. Initially, the student did so to fool her friends and had no intention of blowing up the matter.

"However, upon her arrival by bus in Dungun early yesterday, purportedly to ease her study stress, she told her mother in Selangor via telephone that she had been kidnapped and was told to lodge a police report," he told reporters here today.

Wan Abdul Aziz said the student who was from Ampang, Selangor, claimed she managed to escape 10 hours after being abducted in Johor Baru when the lorry carrying her stopped to refuel in Dungun, early yesterday morning.

The victim then sought help from a newspaper vendor before a local resident who happened to be buying a newspaper there took her to the Dungun District Police Headquarters to lodge a report.

In her report at the Dungun District Police Station yesterday morning the student had said she was kidnapped together with seven Chinese, Indian and Malay children.

She said she resorted to escaping as she was in great fear and did not have time to remember the registration number of the lorry.

She had claimed the suspects were three Malay males and all the victims were to be taken to Kelantan before crossing over to Thailand.

The case went viral on Facebook and Whatsapp forcing the police to conduct a large-scale operation in Terengganu, Kelantan, Perak, Kedah and Perlis.

The girl has been handed to her family and would be charged soon when investigations were concluded, said Wan Abdul Aziz, adding the case was being investigated under Section 182 of the Penal Code (giving false information). – Bernama