MASTERMIND STILL AT LARGE: Four others to appear as witnesses
KUALA LUMPUR: THREE men will be charged with the kidnapping of Dutch national Nayati Shamelin Moodliar at the magistrate's court in Jalan Duta today.
The three, aged between 20 and 40, are part of a gang of seven who were nabbed by police after Nayati was released on May 3. It was also learnt that the remaining four, including a woman, will appear as witnesses for the prosecution.
Police yesterday received the green light from the deputy public prosecutor to charge the three under Section 3 of the Kidnapping Act 1961, which carries the death sentence, or life imprisonment with rotan, upon conviction.
"The three suspects will be charged along with the mastermind, who is still at large in Europe," a police source told the New Straits Times.
The seven suspects were arrested in Chemor, Perak, Banting, Selangor and Cheras, here. Of the seven, one had a prior conviction for a petty crime while the rest had no previous records.
Police also recovered part of the ransom that was paid to secure the boy's release and a car that was believed to have been used in the kidnap on April 27.
Nayati was abducted by two men while walking to the Mont Kiara International School. Within hours of the incident, Nayati's case went viral with several media organisations in the Netherlands, South Africa and Britain latching on to the story.
The kidnappers later contacted Nayati's parents, Sham and Janice Moodliar, through a social networking site with the ransom demand. After a series of negotiations, the ransom was dropped off at an undisclosed location in the city on May 2. Hours later, Nayati was released at the Rawang rest and recreation area, along the North-South Expressway.
On the same day that Nayati was released, the 24-year-old mastermind departed from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport for Paris with his wife. It was believed that the mastermind had orchestrated the kidnapping to fund his European honeymoon.
However, after his new wife realised who her husband was, she pleaded with him to return home and surrender to the authorities, but he refused.
He, however, allowed her to return home on May 11. On May 15, the woman gave her statement to city police and she was subsequently released.
Later, the mastermind's parents, on seeing their son's photograph in the newspapers, lodged a police report, claiming they had no knowledge of the kidnapping.
Police later checked their home in Taman Bukit Maluri, Kepong, where they found RM30,000, believed to be part of the ransom, in the mastermind's room.
The mastermind's 51-year-old mother was interviewed by police as her car had been used to drop Nayati off at the Rawang rest and recreation area.
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