Malaysian police said yesterday they were searching for at least four suspects who allegedly kidnapped, assaulted, then released a South African diplomat.
The kidnapping of Deputy High Commissioner Nicky Scholtz is the latest in a series of security scares that have sent jitters through the diplomatic corps in Malaysia and prompted authorities to set up a special protection squad.
Scholtz, 54, claimed he was dragged into a car by unidentified men on May 23 while walking to a hotel where he was staying in Kuala Lumpur, District Police Chief Hadi Ho Abdullah said.
The kidnappers took him to an apartment where they held him captive for nearly a week, tried to extort money from him and hit him on the face several times, Hadi said. No ransom demands were made.
Police released photographs of three of the alleged kidnappers taken from closed circuit television footage recorded at Scholtz's hotel the day after he was seized. Police said the attackers went to the room and stole cash and other personal items.
Scholtz identified his attackers from the video, Hadi said.
Scholtz told police his abductors freed him before dawn on Sunday, handed him 50 ringgit (US$13) and abandoned him near a construction site on the out-skirts of Kuala Lumpur, where he took a taxi to the South African High Commission.
The suspects' photographs showed men with South Asian features, and police identified words that Scholtz said the kidnappers used as Hindi, Hadi said. Other details of the suspects' identities were not known.
Scholtz has previously served as an envoy to Taiwan, Indonesia and Hungary. He arrived in Malay-sia on April 20.
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