BUKIT MERTAJAM, Feb 12 — The police have rescued a furniture store owner who was kidnapped in George Town near here last Tuesday over a failure to settle his debts, and arrested six people to facilitate investigations.
The suspects, aged between 18 and 26, were picked up in separate raids around Bukit Tambun, Simpang Ampat near here yesterday.
Penang CID chief Datuk Mazlan Kesah said the 41-year-old victim was reportedly abducted by a group of men who were in a car about 5pm on Tuesday when he came out of his house in Bandar Baru Air Itam.
“Family members of the furniture store owner lodged a police report after receiving several telephone calls from someone demanding for ransom,” he told reporters here today.
He said following this, the police conducted an investigation and rescued the victim and arrest a teenage boy at a cheap hotel in Bukit Tambun about 5pm yesterday.
“Following that arrest, the police picked up five other men in the vicinity of Bukit Tambun. We are now in the midst of nabbing another person, believed to be the mastermind.
“The kidnap stemmed from the victim’s failure to pay his debt,” added Mazlan.
In a separate case, a security guard was killed when he was attacked by four men armed with machetes in Kampung Manis, Perai here last night.
Jahangir OK Shamsuddin, 21, succumbed to slash wounds while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Bandar Perda. The body was sent to the Seberang Jaya Hospital.
Mazlan said in the 9.15pm incident, Jahangir was with three friends when he was attacked by a group of masked men who arrived in a car. The friends escaped from the attackers. — Bernama
