JOHOR BARU: No new arrests have been made by police in connection with the kidnapping of 6-year-old Albertine Leo Jia Hui.
Iskandar Puteri police chief Assistant Commissioner M. Kumarasan said that so far, only five suspects are still in police custody to assist the investigation of the case.
"No new arrests. Thank you," he said when contacted today.
Albertine was reportedly kidnapped from the Eco Galleria business centre, Iskandar Puteri, here, last Saturday.
Regarding the motive of the incident and the suspects' relationship with the victim's mother or father, Kumarasan requested that the police be given the space to conduct further investigations first.
"Please be patient; questions will be answered once the investigation is complete. Please give the police the space to complete the investigation. Thank you," he said.
Albertine Leo was discovered missing at about 8.30pm by her parents, who were trading at the Bon Odori Festival in the business centre.
The case was then reclassified from a missing person report to Section 365 of the Penal Code for kidnapping following the arrest of three suspects aged 28 to 55 years old on Monday.
Two men and a woman were arrested around 1.30pm in Gelang Patah before a subsequent arrest was made of another woman in her 40s around this district at 12.15pm yesterday.
The four local suspects were then remanded for four days until this Friday.
The police successfully rescued the victim, who is the third of four siblings, at a budget hotel in Batang Kali, Selangor, at 4.45am yesterday.
The fifth suspect, a 31-year-old local man who was with the victim, was arrested. He is believed to have taken the 6-year-old from Johor to Selangor by car.
The man was then brought to the Johor Baru Court and was remanded for seven days until next Monday.