Body of missing boy found in river

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Mohd Shahriqal

BEAUFORT: A three-year-old boy who has been missing was found murdered and dumped into the river at Kg Jempangah here yesterday.

The boy, Mohd Shahriqal Sidek, had gone out to play with two of his elder brothers in a rubber plantation near his house around 7am on Friday when one of the brothers suddenly realised that Mohd Shahriqal had disappeared.

The elder brothers immediately informed their mother. The boy’s father and villagers quickly formed a search party but Mohd Shahriqal was nowhere to be found.

The family lodged a police report at Beaufort police station at 4pm on the same day.

Beaufort police chief Deputy Superintendent Mustaffa Maarof Mustaffa said a joint search and rescue effort with Civil Defence Department was launched after the family lodged the report.

The police subsequently arrested a 30-year-old man to assist in investigation. After interrogating the suspect, the man led the police to the boy’s body at the river in Kg Jempangah, about 7km from where the boy went missing.

Police believe that the boy was killed before his body was dumped into the river.

It was suspected that the man had killed Mohd Shahriqal due to some misunderstanding with the boy’s father.

The body has been sent to Beaufort Hospital for a post mortem to determine the cause of death, while the case will be investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.