KUALA TERENGGANU, July 3 — Eight-year-old Muhammad Saiful Aiman Mohammad, who went missing two days ago, had followed his mother’s colleague across the Thai border and was not kidnapped.

Terengganu Criminal Investigation Department chief ACP Razmi Mohd Gunnos, said the 60-year-old Thai national worked with the boy’s mother at a shop that made keropok and was known to the family.

“It was the Thai woman who had taken Muhammad Saiful Aiman to her house in Narathiwat in Southern Thailand and with information from the public, the boy was later found in Pengkalan Kubur, Kelantan.

“The boy was then taken home by a police team from the Besut District Police Headquarters (IPD) at noon,” Razmi told a press conference at the Terengganu Contingent Police Headquarters, here today.

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Razmi said he believed the woman had taken the boy to Narathiwat by boat.

He said although Muhammad Saiful Aiman, the third of four children, did not suffer any injuries, he had to undergo a medical examination.

“I believe this happened because of miscommunication as the boy did not inform his mother that he was going with her colleague to Narathiwat,” he said.

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Earlier the boy’s mother Siti Ruziana Sidek, 35, a widow, had lodged a report at the Kuala Besut police station.

She later told Bernama that several acquaintances from Kuala Besut, Terengganu had found her son. — Bernama