BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

A THREE-YEAR-OLD boy who was allegedly abducted from his mother in Malaysia was confirmed taken to Brunei by his father.

The Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF) yesterday said the father lodged a police report on May 30 to inform that “he safely brought his son back to Brunei”.

A police spokesperson said more details were expected to be released soon, pending further investigation into the case.

Terengganu’s chief of Criminal Investigation Department, Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Hamzah, told reporters on Monday that the father and son might have flown from Terengganu to Sabah before continuing their journey to Brunei.

However, police last week denied viral claims circulating on social media that the boy was kidnapped for ransom.

According to Malaysian news reports, the boy and his mother were travelling from Marang to Bukit Parang last Wednesday morning when his father, who was driving another vehicle, blocked their path and caused a collision. The father then grabbed his son and fled with him in a different vehicle.

Wan Abdul Aziz said the couple was in the process of divorce and the Kuala Terengganu Syariah Court granted custody of the son to the mother, a 35-year-old religious teacher.

The boy’s mother met her 30-year-old husband, who is from Brunei, when she taught in the sultanate several years ago. The couple were previously living in Brunei before the mother took her son back to her hometown in Marang, Terengganu end of last year.

The Brunei Times