Four Chinese citizens have denied charges of abducting a 72-year-old man from Singapore at the international airport on Penang island. Prosecutors say the group seized the retiree in late July and demanded a ransom of one million Singapore dollars, roughly 780,000 US dollars. A judge refused bail for all four suspects, and the court will review documents in the case on October 15. If convicted, they could spend between 30 and 40 years in prison.
Police freed the victim in August after raiding a house in the state of Kedah, where officers also rescued a Chinese woman. A criminal syndicate reportedly contacted targets through chat apps and invited them to meet, using offers of jobs or holidays. The man had flown to Malaysia after seeing an advertisement for consultant work. Before the rescue, his family transferred about 48,000 ringgit to accounts controlled by the group.