ALOR STAR, Nov 11 — Three men, including a policeman who has been suspended, were today sentenced to life imprisonment by the High Court here after being found guilty of kidnapping a man and holding him for a RM40,000 ransom in Bedong, Sungai Petani, last year.

Corporal Mat Rani Zakaria, 51, from Negeri Sembilan and two employees of a car wash place Mohamad Shukri Ibrahim, 33, and Jeffri Abdullah, 29, from Bedong were accused of kidnapping Zulkifli Dahlan, 24, on March 15, 2012, in front of a hotel in Bedong.

Judicial Commissioner Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab also ordered Mohamad Shukri and Jeff to be given 10 lashes each.

Zaki said during the sentencing of the three men that their defence had failed to raise a reasonable doubt on the charge against them.

He said the three men did not deny they retained Zulkifli and took him to a hotel in Klang, Selangor, and had demanded RM40,000 from the victim’s brother.

However, the three men claimed that the money was for ‘kautim’ (settlement) for the drugs found in Zulkifli’s car and for not bringing the victim to Bukit Aman (Federal police headquarters). — Bernama