JOHOR BARU, Oct 26 — Five local men and a Bangladeshi male were arrested by police today over the abduction of two Bangladeshi men who have since been rescued.

Iskandar Puteri District Police chief ACP Dzulkhairi Mukhtar said the suspects, aged between 14 and 31 years, were arrested in different locations in Pasir Gudang and Ulu Tiram, here, between 7.50am and 10.45am today.

"Earlier, police rescued two Bangladeshi men, aged 35 years, at 7.50am this morning at an abandoned electricity substation in Jalan Manggis 1, Bestari Perdana City, Pasir Gudang, before arresting all the suspects,” he said in a statement here today.

Dzulkhairi said, police were informed of the incident yesterday evening by a 32-year-old Myanmar man, who was a worker at a construction project site in Gelang Patah, here.

He said the complainant reported that six men including a Bangladeshi man armed with a parang, suddenly entered the room shared by him and four other friends, at 2am, on October 24, while they were asleep.

He said he and two other friends managed to escape, but the two Bangladeshis were caught by the suspects and taken in a van along with RM12,000 in cash.

According to Dzulkhairi, at 1.30pm (on the same day), the complainant alleged that a suspect had blackmailed one of the Bangladeshi men’s family to pay RM40,000, which if not paid, the suspect threatened to kill both men. 

"As result of intelligence, a police team from Iskandar Puteri police headquarters managed to rescue the two Bangladeshi men and arrest the six men, including two teenagers who were not schooling,” he said.

The case was being investigated under Section 363/385 of the Penal Code, he added. — Bernama