KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — Police today ruled out ransom as a possible reason for the abduction of a British toddler from the Bangsar suburb here last night.

City Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief SAC Datuk Ku Chin Wah said that ransom was highly unlikely as the targets in such cases were usually those who could communicate with their kidnappers.

“In this case, it would not make sense to kidnap for ransom because a small child would be hard to control. If that was the case, then there is something mentally wrong with the suspects,” he said at a press conference at the Pantai police station.

Twenty-month-old Freddie, who was taken from his Bangsar home at around 6pm yesterday, was found today standing alone by the roadside at Taman Titiwangsa, less than 24 hours after his abduction.

Ku said the boy was found at around 1.20pm by a 57-year-old retired civil servant, who promptly informed the police.

The boy was picked up by officers from the Jalan Tun Razak police station, where he was positively identified by his mother, Sarah Joseph, who was accompanied by family and friends.

Ku said the boy appeared to be in good health with no visible signs of injury.

He added that Freddie was calm and did not cry or react when police picked him up from Taman Tasik Titiwangsa.

With Freddie safely returned, Ku said the police will now shift their attention to investigating the incident under the Kidnapping Act 1961.

Freddie is held by an unidentified woman after he was found unhurt at Lake Titiwangsa in Kuala Lumpur.

But he noted that the police have little to work with since they did not have much information on the two suspects apart from a photofit of the male suspect based on eyewitness accounts.

He also ruled out the involvement of Freddie’s father, but declined to elaborate on the status of the police’s investigation.

“Based on what we’ve gathered so far, there is no urgency to question the father. We can only speculate the motive. Let us investigate, and we’ll let you know,” Ku said.

It is understood that Freddie has resided in Bangsar for over a year with his mother, after she divorced her husband who currently lives in the Philippines.

During the kidnapping, the male suspect - described as having a fair complexion and standing at around 5’6” tall - had injured Freddie’s mother with a machete after she tried to fight him off.

He is believed to have a female accomplice who sported long black hair. The suspects were said to have driven a white Toyota Camry.

A composite image depicting the male suspect involved in the abduction of British toddler Freddie Joseph as released by the police in Kuala Lumpur, November 9, 2013. — Picture by Joseph Sipalan

The abduction yesterday reminded the nation of the kidnap of 12-year-old Dutch schoolboy Nayati Shamelin Moodliar last year.

The pre-teen was grabbed while walking to the Mont Kiara International School on April 27 last year and released six days later at the Sungai Buloh highway rest stop after his family paid a RM300,000 ransom.