Malacca to beef up security at schools to prevent kidnapping

 

The Malacca Education Department has been instructed to take security measures in schools to prevent potential kidnapping.

This comes amid three police reports alleging attempted kidnappings of primary schoolchildren in Pahang, Kelantan and Perak, of which some were found to be hoaxes.

State education executive councillor Rais Yasin said the state wants pre-emptive measures to be taken, even though there have not been any reports of such incidents in Malacca, The Star reported.

He said he will instruct the Education Department to set up meetings with stakeholders on the matter.

“We will discuss the method of intensifying security levels with school management as well as parent-teacher association representatives too, ” he said.

Kidnap reports and hoaxes

Yesterday, police warned against circulating false kidnapping alerts, including a viral message claiming police rescued six children who were abducted by an organ harvesting ring.

Bukit Aman said the hoax message has been circulating since 2017.

Perak police, meanwhile, said its probe found a nine-year-old girl who claimed she was almost kidnapped outside of her school had made up the story after watching online videos of kidnappings abroad.

In Kelantan, police dismissed claims of multiple attempted kidnappings there, after schools issued letters to parents reminding them to not be late in collecting their children from school, for fear of kidnapping.

A father of a primary school student in Pasir Puteh there told Utusan Malaysia a stranger approached his son and claimed he was there to collect him, as his parents were busy. - Mkini