AT LEAST EIGHT INVOLVED IN PAMELA LING'S ABDUCTION - POLICE

KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 (Bernama) -- Police investigations have found that at least eight individuals travelling in five vehicles were involved in the abduction of Datin Seri Pamela Ling Yueh in Putrajaya on April 9.

Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Rusdi Mohd Isa said the finding was based on a review of closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage from the area.

“From the CCTV footage, we found that three vehicles - a Toyota Camry, Nissan Almera and Nissan Teana - blocked the path of the e-hailing car in which Ling was travelling, while two other cars acted as lookouts.

“Three individuals then exited the vehicles that had blocked the e-hailing car, instructed the victim to get out, and directed her into one of the waiting vehicles.

“All the cars involved were later seen taking two different routes out of Putrajaya,” he said at a press conference here today.

Rusdi added that the CCTV footage also confirmed that two of the individuals involved were wearing vests resembling those used by members of the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM).

However, initial police investigations found that no raid or operation was conducted by any unit of PDRM in the area on the day of the incident, and the suspects are believed to have impersonated police officers to deceive the victim, the public and the authorities.

He said CCTV footage also showed no signs of a struggle, and the victim appeared to comply when asked to exit the e-hailing vehicle and enter one of the suspects’ cars.

“In fact, the e-hailing driver also complied when ordered to hand over his identity card and to mark the ride as completed as instructed by the suspects. A police report was lodged by the driver because the suspects did not return his identity card,” he said.

Police are actively tracking down all the vehicles involved, and checks revealed that three of them were cloned cars bearing the same make, colour and registration numbers as vehicles owned by individuals in Pahang and Kelantan.

“Checks confirmed that the original cars were with their owners on the day of the incident,” he said.

In addition, he said checks with the Immigration Department showed no record of Ling having left the country since the incident.

“We believe she is still in the country and efforts to locate her are ongoing,” he added.

Ling, 42, was reported missing while on her way to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission office in an e-hailing vehicle to give a statement related to an ongoing investigation.

Police received a report on her disappearance at 3.02 pm the same day.

-- BERNAMA