GEORGE TOWN: Nine people have been arrested, including a woman, to assist investigation into the kidnapping of a Myanmar man in front of factory in Batu Kawan on Oct 21.
Penang police chief Datuk Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain said the nine — seven Myanmar men, a local man and a woman, aged 21 to 48, were arrested in a series of raids in Penang and Kedah between last Monday and yesterday.
He said police received a report from a local woman, that her employee, a 26-year-old Rohingya man, was kidnapped by two men using a Perodua Viva car in front of the factory at 10.43pm on Oct 21.
"Following the report, police conducted an investigation and managed to rescue the victim at a house in Kampung Sungai Layar, Sungai Petani, in Kedah on Monday.
"We held a series of raids and detained the nine individuals around Kedah and Penang," he told a press conference today.
Mohd Shuhaily said police also confiscated a Perodua Viva and RM3,000 in cash, believed to have been paid by the victim's family, to the group to free the man.
He said the seven Myanmar nationals had valid United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) card.
All of them have been remanded until Oct 31 to assist in investigation under Section 3 of the 1961 Kidnapping Act.