PETALING JAYA, Oct 22 — A 41-year-old trader was found dead hours after he was abducted in Subang Jaya on Tuesday night.

A friend who witnessed the victim being bundled into a car by a group of men is in critical condition after he was stabbed.

The incident unfolded when the victim and his friend, in his 30s, arrived at SS15, Subang Jaya, from Serdang when they were ambushed by the group of men armed with parang.

Subang Jaya police chief ACP Ramli Yahya said the group had trailed the Toyota Vios belonging to the victim’s friend and confronted them when they got down from the car to enter a restaurant. 

“An altercation took place between the victims and the group, during which the friend was stabbed three times,” he said.

“The victim was dragged back into the car and the suspects sped off in it.”

The injured friend managed to contact the trader’s brother and told him what happened.

Yahya said the brother lodged a police report, and the injured man was rushed to the Subang Jaya Medical Centre.

“We were informed the car had a Global Positioning System (GPS) fitted and we used it to track down the vehicle,” he said.

Police found the car in Jalan 15/2A at 2.30am yesterday.

“A police team were dispatched to the scene and we decided to first observe from a distance,” Yahya said.

“After 90 minutes, we decided to move in and found the victim dead in the front passenger seat.”

Initial investigations showed the trader was stabbed four times in the body and head.

Police retrieved a knife, possibly the murder weapon, on the floor of the car.

Yahya said police were establishing the motive of the abduction and murder.

“Our investigations now depend on the friend, who is in a critical condition, as he is our prime witness,” he said.

“We are also investigating the background of the trader, who sold mobile phone accessories, and his friend.”

No arrests have been made so far.