The attempted kidnapping of a student outside of Sekolah Kebangsaan Pengkalan, Taman Pinji Mewah, which was caught on a video that went viral last week, was proven to be a hoax by Perak police today.
Perak police chief Datuk Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri also said that the nine-year-old student involved in the incident admitted to making a false report to find out how police deal with kidnapping cases.
Following the attempted abduction report, police have organised a special task force team to investigate so parents aren’t anxious about their children’s safety at school.
At a press conference at the Perak police headquarters, he said, “We found out that the story or report that the child was almost kidnapped is not true.”
According to Mohd Yusri, the student made up the narrative after seeing and being influenced by kidnapping movies from other countries that were circulated on messaging systems like WhatsApp and Telegram.
When asked why she made a false report, the girl claimed she wanted to see how police handle such cases.
The police have called all five witnesses and people involved in the alleged incident. This includes the victim’s friend, a classmate, two security guards, and the van driver who was accused of kidnaping the student.
He also stated that the white van seen in the video was used to transport workers.
Mohd Yusri advised parents to drop off and pick up their children at the designated times and to let the school know if they had any problems. As a preventive precaution, more police officers will be assigned to schools.
The police are still investigating the case and no action has been taken against the parents or the children for now.
Image Credit: Markus Spiske
