4 Bangladeshis charged with kidnapping in Malaysia

Five people, including four Bangladeshis, have been charged at a Malaysia magistrate's court with abducting a Bangladeshi male and demanding Tk 1 million (about RM 50,000) ransom in August.

The five are: Josim, 32, his Malaysian wife Faridah Jeya Sly Ramesh, Md Raihan Hosen, 28, Miah Soraf, 33, and Nusrat Jahan Bipasha, 26.

The accused nodded when the charges were read out to them by a court interpreter before Magistrate Syahrul Sazly Md Sain on Friday.

No plea was recorded from the accused because the scope of the case is under the jurisdiction of the High Court.

They were accused of kidnapping Md Sohel Rana, 39, from in front of a supermarket in Jalan Damai Mewah 1A in Malaysia at 8:30pm on August 27.

The five were charged under section 3(1) of the Kidnapping Act 1961 which was read together with section 34 of the Penal Code, which provides for the death penalty or life imprisonment. If not sentenced to death, they may be subjected to whipping, if convicted.

The court set October 7 for re-mention of the case.

The prosecution was conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Nurul Husna Amran while Md Raihan and Josim were represented by lawyer Tan Cheng Yee. The three others were not represented.

Earlier, the media had reported that a Bangladeshi man was abducted for almost one week by his compatriots and was found in a weakened state in a house in Bandar Teknologi in Malaysia.