Missing girl, 6, found safe in Selangor budget hotel
A girl who was reported lost by her parents on July 20 at a festival in Iskandar Puteri, Johor, has been found safe in Selangor, Malaysian police said.
The six-year-old was found early in the morning on July 23, said Johor police chief M Kumar at a press conference on the same day.
She was found safe in a budget hotel in Batang Kali, Selangor, at around 4am and has been taken to hospital for health checks, he added. Her family has been informed of her discovery.
On July 22, the police said two men and one woman aged between 28 and 55 had been arrested in Iskandar Puteri to assist with investigations. They are suspected of abduction and unlawful confinement, which carries a prison term of up to seven years, the police said.
Another woman was also arrested on the same charges, said Mr Kumar on July 23.
A 31-year-old man who was arrested at the hotel is suspected of violating Section 14(a) of the sexual offences against children act, said Mr Kumar.
He said the police are investigating if she was touched in a non-permissible way and the authorities would have a more conclusive idea after the hospital releases its medical report.
A car has also been confiscated for investigations.
All five Malaysian suspects have no relation to the girl, said Mr Kumar.
She was reported lost at around 8.30pm on July 20, after her mother lost sight of the girl while manning a stall at the Bon Odori Japanese food festival in Eco Galleria, less than 15km away from the Second Link’s Sultan Abu Bakar Complex immigration checkpoint.
Her disappearance was widely discussed in Johor, and netizens shared images of her at the festival in a bid to locate the girl.
Johor chief minister Onn Hafiz Ghazi also urged the public to share leads with the authorities, while numerous parties offered five-figure cash rewards for information on the girl.
Her family was distraught at the girl's disappearance, Malaysia media reported. Her mother visited the site where she was last spotted each day she was lost, and pleaded with netizens to avoid spreading false information that would hamper investigations.
Johor police chief Kumar said the child was found thanks to a combination of information from the public as well as police work.
The police had reviewed security camera footage from shop owners that captured images from some streets close to the Eco Galleria mall in Iskandar Puteri over the weekend.
He praised local media for not interfering with the police investigations over the nearly 60 hours that she was missing.
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