KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 6 — Three-year-old Wan Aisyah Wan Exzam has finally been found, safe and sound in Penang.

The girl was reported to be in good health despite having been separated from her family, particularly her mother, for almost a week.

It was a tearful scene at the Sungai Nibong police station yesterday when Wan Aisyah was finally reunited with her school teacher-mother Arbaiyah Md Zin and her father Wan Exzam.

Both Wan Exzam and Arbaiyah — based in Gombak here — had rushed to the island after being told that her daughter, last seen at Rawang Tesco on Tuesday, had been found. They arrived at the police station at 4.45pm.

Police took about two hours to record a statement from Arbaiyah before Wan Aisyah could have a reunion with her parents.

When asked how they felt having the girl back with them, Wan Exzam said there was no better Hari Raya gift than to celebrate with their precious daughter.

“I will buy her new clothes when we are back home,” he said, thanking the police and the public for assisting them in locating the girl.

Earlier at a press conference at the police contingent headquarters, Penang CID chief Mazlan Kesah said Wan Aisyah was “rescued” when the 66-year-old mother of the suspect brought the child to the police station at 11.30am.

“The mother said her son arrived in their house about 5.20am but she suspected something amiss when she noticed a child with him during ‘sahur’ this morning,” he said.

By then, Wan Aisyah’s apparent abduction had became viral on Facebook, and upon hearing about the case, the woman decided to surrender the girl to police. The woman also handed over Wan Aisyah’s MyKid and birth certificate to police.

“The suspect is believed to have escaped from his mother’s house but we will be able to locate him because we have his address in Penang and his vehicle’s registration number,” Mazlan said.

The case would be investigated by Selangor police as the report was lodged at the Gombak police station on Saturday after the suspect failed the return little Wan Aisyah to her mother (Arbaiyah) as promised.

The news about the missing girl got the attention of the public when a photograph of Wan Aisyah being carried by a man went viral after it was uploaded by Wan Aisyah’s mother, who goes by the name Cikgu Arbaiyah on Facebook.

It is learnt that the man photographed carrying Wan Aisyah on Facebook is Arbaiyah’s boyfriend, whom she intends to marry soon. The Facebook relationship between Arbaiyah and the man had apparently led to Wan Aishah’s abduction.

The case has since drawn intense public anger online with people questioning why the mother handed over her young child to a man she had met in May through the social networking site.

The teacher had also parted with RM25,000 when the man asked for a loan for his gold business.

Gombak police chief ACP Rahim Abdullah said Arbaiyah later lodged a police report when the suspect did not return with the child and calls to his mobile phone went unanswered.

Police are now looking for Shahrizal Yusof, 44.