PETALING JAYA, Oct 15 — A suspected kidnap gang came unstuck on Monday when it was broken up by police, with one suspect dead in his bid to escape.

Selangor CID chief Datuk Mohd Adnan Abdullah said a Nigerian student, in his 20s, lodged a police report in Puchong on Sunday, claiming his girlfriend had been kidnapped.

“The boyfriend said he received a call from a suspect who demanded RM40,000 for the release of his girlfriend, also a Nigerian student here,” Mohd Adnan said.

Acting on the report, police carried out a background check on the complainant to verify his report and conducted an investigation.

“We suspected the kidnappers were people that the victim must have known,” he said.

“Police immediately tracked the victim and her kidnappers’ whereabouts.”

Mohd Adnan said the victim’s boyfriend cooperated with the police in their investigations and he managed to coax the suspects into giving him more time and told them he was gathering the funds.

The police managed to find the victim’s location on Monday. They believe she was being held in a condominium unit in Taman Melati, Ampang.

“We formed a team to raid the condominium unit and moved in on the suspects at about 5pm.”

Mohd Adnan said when police ambushed the unit located at the condominium’s 13th floor, there were three Nigerian men and two local women.

The victim was being held in one of the rooms.

“Upon seeing the police, the suspects attempted to escape. The raiding team arrested two women and two men,” he said.

The other suspect tried to climb down from the balcony to a unit below.

However, he could not grab hold of anything and fell to his death.

“The suspect who died was in his 20s and we are still trying to establish his identity,” Mohd Adnan said.

The victim was unharmed while in the custody of the suspects.

He said investigation are underway to determine how many other kidnapping cases they were involved in.

“The gang thought they could get money quickly by carrying out this crime, but look what had happened — it has just gone awfully wrong,” he said.