Woman who lodge fake abduction report in Matang to face real police action

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Dato’ Dev Kumar M.M. Sree

KUCHING: The police will take action against a 20-year-old woman who had caused a stir in Sarawak yesterday when she lodged a false report claiming her sister and niece had been abducted at Jalan FAC Matang.

Sarawak Deputy Police Commissioner Dato’ Dev Kumar M.M. Sree told a press conference last night that the woman’s actions had caused anxiety not just for her parents or family members but the public at large.

“We have to take legal action against the woman as a lesson to society on how serious it is to lodge a false report,” he said.

However, he said action would not be taken against the victims’ parents because they too were deceived by the woman.

Dev Kumar said the woman had lodged the police report at 5.15pm yesterday, claiming that she witnessed her 17-year-old sister and 10-year-old niece being pulled into a white van by two masked men.

“But after we did our investigation, it was found that the woman had lodged a false report.

“The victims were never abducted. The woman was helping her sister and niece to run away run away because they were said to have been abused by their aunt, that was the reason given by the woman,” he said.

The police managed to find the two girls safe at one of their friend’s house and brought them to Gita Police Station last night.

Apart from that, he said that the van belonged to a person who had no connection with the alleged abduction.

“The owner of the van has also lodged a police report. It is unfair on to him because he has to go to the police station to deny the claim,” he said.

The purported abduction was widely shared on social media and when it was revealed that it was a false police report, the public reacted angrily.

“I was made to understand that this case was viral throughout the state which caused anxiety among the public, we were also worried because we have not heard of such cases in Sarawak involving masked men that pulled children into a van,” Dev Kumar said.

He also urged the public not to share unverified news on social media.

“Therefore, we wish to remind the public to get their facts right before they viral it, that’s the reason why we have to take action in cases like this. I do not blame the parents because they too were misled, like us,” he said.