Kota Kinabalu: A 22-year-old Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) student who was kidnapped Tuesday night endured a 10-hour ordeal before police managed to rescue her following a high speed chase along the Keningau-Tambunan road early Wednesday.Police said one of the kidnappers, believed to be a 20-year-old Bajau from Kota Belud, was arrested shortly after and a manhunt was under way for another, said to be a local Bruneian identified as Mohd Ariffin Bidin, 29.
City police chief, ACP Ahmad Sofi Zakaria said police were now awaiting word from the hospital authorities in Keningau, where the girl has been warded, to ascertain if she was sexually assaulted by her captors.
Also, we are trying to establish if the injuries she sustained was a result of her being attacked or caused by the impact of the crash which brought the car to a stop, he said.
"We cannot be assuming anything É she is still in trauma (so) the doctors told us to give her a few days, let her calm down, so we will leave it at that," he said.
It was learnt that the second-year student, who is from Sibu, Sarawak, was forced inside a car by the men as she was walking to a hypermarket with seven UMS friends at Kingfisher Park in Likas, late Tuesday.
They had come from their hostel in a van which they parked on the roadside near a roundabout and decided to drop by at the store before going to the Methodist Church, just across the road, for a fellowship outing.
Walking slower than the group, the student got separated from her friends, when a dark blue Kancil pulled up next to her at about 7pm.
Coincidentally, one of the friends, who wished to be known only as Ivy, turned around to tell her to keep up. But to her horror, she saw the student being dragged into the car with only her legs sticking out.
The friend dashed to the car and got hold of the open door but was sent sprawling to the road after the driver sped-off, alerting the unsuspecting friends. The car was seen escaping towards the direction of the Likas Hospital.
It was also learnt that a motorcyclist, also a UMS student but not part of the group, spotted the incident and gave chase but lost track of the car.
Several minutes later, friends of the girl alerted the police who mounted snap roadblocks in nearby areas and instructed their Mobile Patrol Vehicle (MPV) units to be on the lookout but still they failed to locate the car.
Shortly after, Short Messaging Service (SMS) text alerts were sent out to the public, telling them to watch out for the Kancil, the registration plate number included.
It was learnt that police received information that the vehicle was seen in Penampang, but despite a check carried out together with Penampang police, they failed to detect the suspects.
City police also radioed their counterparts in Tuaran, Keningau, Beaufort and Sipitang, among others, to be on the lookout for the car.
At about 5.30am, Keningau police spotted the car travelling near Kg Rompon and gave chase after several orders for them to stop went unheeded.
It was learnt police shot the tyres of the Kancil, causing the driver to lose control. At a press conference in Keningau on Wednesday, Ahmad Sofi said the driver lost control due to speeding.
He said the car plunged into a ravine, about 20m down, and police managed to locate the first suspect who suffered injuries from the crash.
The suspect was brought to the Keningau Hospital and later brought back to the police station where he has been detained since.
Ahmad Sofi said police found the traumatised girl inside the car without any visible serious injuries, adding the car's registration number was falsified.
He urged the public to inform the police immediately should they spot suspicious characters in their areas, adding this was the first such incident in Sabah this year.
"We are taking this matter very seriously," he said. The public is urged to contact the city police force at 088-242111 (extension 201), the Keningau police at 087-332222 or the nearest police station if they have any information pertaining to the matter.
