Teen stages own kidnapping to squeeze money off dad for sporty motorbike

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http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Crime/Story/A1Story20120729-362022.html

A 14-year-old boy faked his own kidnapping to get RM8,000 (S$3,157) from his father to buy a sporty motorcycle.

The boy plotted the kidnap ruse with his friend, a school dropout also aged 14, who spoke like an adult when making the "ransom" demand.

Terengganu CID chief Asst Comm K. Manoharan said the boy left his home in Kampung Machang Lada in Marang at 9am on Tuesday, after his father refused to lend him his old motorcycle, a Honda Cub.

When the boy did not return by 11.20pm, his father, a sundry shopkeeper, lodged a missing person's report.

ACP Manoharan said shortly after making the report, the boy's father received a phone call.

The caller, who sounded like a man, told him to put RM8,000 in a paper bag and place it behind a 7-Eleven outlet in Kuala Ibai near here the following day if he wanted his son to return safely.

"The father did as he was told the next day but his son was not there," ACP Manoharan told reporters yesterday.

Worried that the ransom drop had gone wrong, the father went around looking for his son.

He finally saw the boy walking with his friend near a hypermarket at 5am on Friday.

The ruse was exposed when the boy admitted that he staged his own kidnapping to buy a 135cc sporty motorcycle.

"His friend imitated an adult voice when demanding the ransom," ACP Manoharan said.

Both boys have been remanded until July 31.