A former air steward was among five kidnappers nabbed after taking delivery of 10 gold bars as ransom here on Tuesday.
Police believe it was the country’s first-ever kidnapping case involving the use of gold bars, worth RM1.44 million, as ransom.
Previous kidnapping cases only involved payment of cash in either local or foreign currency.
Selangor police raiding parties moved in on the kidnappers on Tuesday night and early yesterday after the hostage was freed unharmed.
In the swoops, police arrested the former air steward and four Nepalese men, and recovered the 10 gold bars, which weighed a kilogramme each.
Selangor police chief Datuk Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah said the kidnappers ambushed and bundled a 62-year-old security firm director into a black Isuzu fourwheel- drive vehicle behind Pulau Ketam Restaurant on Monday morning.
“They contacted the victim’s family and demanded a ransom of 10 gold bars, valued at RM144,000 each, for the safe return of the director. The family was told to drop the ransom at a location in Klang,” Tun Hisan said.
It is believed that the kidnappers had demanded gold bars instead of cash because it had no serial numbers and would have been easier to dispose of than marked notes.
The drop-off proceeded smoothly on Tuesday, with the kidnappers collecting the 10 gold bars and later freeing the hostage unharmed.
Tun Hisan said the director was released in a remote location and a passer-by gave him a lift.
A special police task force that had been monitoring the case immediately swung into action.
Three men were arrested in Jalan Pos Baru within 15 minutes of the victim’s release.
In a follow-up operation, police raided a house in Taman Sentosa where they arrested another two suspects and seized the Isuzu fourwheel- drive vehicle fitted with false K-9 stickers and a Kawasaki superbike.
Besides the 10 gold bars, police also recovered a taser gun, five mobile phones and RM45.
Initial investigations showed that the suspects did not know the victim personally, although they were familiar with his background.
The 37-year-old former air steward, who did not have any criminal record, is believed to have provided the information on the director.
It is believed that the four Nepalis, aged between 20 and 30, did not possess any valid travel documents.
The kidnap, involving ransom demands running into millions of ringgit, is the second in Peninsular Malaysia this year.
Last month, a Singaporean businessman paid a ransom of S$9 million (RM20.7 million) after his wife, daughter and maid were kidnapped in Permas Jaya, Johor.
The ransom was paid in Singapore currency by the businessman who was instructed to drop the money in Kulaijaya.
The victims were released unharmed two days later in the Danga Bay area.
