Search begins: ACP Wan Abdul Aziz (left), assisted by investigating officer ASP Mohd Adli Mat Daud, showing the press pictures of the suspect at the police headquarters in Kuala Terengganu.
KUALA TERENGGANU: The “kidnap” of a three-year-old boy which was spread on social media has turned out to be a custody battle between a Malaysian mother and her Bruneian husband.
Terengganu CID chief ACP Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Hamzah denied that the boy was kidnapped for ransom after the news went viral on WhatsApp.
“It is not an abduction. The boy was actually taken by his own father,” he told reporters yesterday.
He said the boy’s mother lodged a police report yesterday claiming that her son was taken by her husband.
“She said she was driving from Marang to Bukit Payung to send her son to her cousin’s place before going to work when a car overtook hers and blocked her way, causing a collision.
“The driver got out to scold her and also to check if the boy was in her car before signalling to the victim’s husband,” he said, adding that the husband approached from behind, grabbed the boy and left in a third vehicle.
Initial investigations revealed that the couple were in the midst of a divorce.
The 35-year-old woman, a religious teacher, met her 30-year-old husband when she taught in Brunei several years ago.
“The marriage did not work out, and she returned to Malaysia at the end of last year with her son. The courts granted her custody of her son in January,” he said.
ACP Aziz said all police branches had been alerted, including Interpol, to ensure that the suspect did not take the boy out of the country.
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