By Ling Hui
KUCHING, Sept 7: A missing cat case took a turn for the worse when the owner received WhatsApp messages from the ‘catnapper’ demanding a RM6,000 ransom.
The owner is a 26-year-old woman who had found her five-year-old emotional support cat, Snow, missing at about 11am on Sept 1 near her house at Taman Kwan Ming here.
According to Malaysia Animal Association president Arie Dwi Andika in a Facebook post, the owner immediately published a missing cat poster on social media to appeal for public help to locate Snow.
On Sept 3, at about 4.30pm, the owner received a WhatsApp message from a person who claimed to have kidnapped Snow.
The owner had recognised her cat from the pictures and videos sent by the kidnapper.
The ‘catnapper’ demanded a deposit of RM6,000 into a bank account in exchange for returning the cat that evening.
The suspect also threatened to throw Snow into a river if the owner failed to pay the full amount of the ransom.
“The owner did not have as much money as the cat kidnapper had asked for. The owner offered a monetary sum of RM200, but was rejected by the cat kidnapper,” said Arie Dwi.
The next day, the owner filed a police report at the Sekama Police Station and consulted the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) but was told that investigation would be difficult due to several reasons.
In view of this, Animal Malaysia appealed to the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) to take this cat kidnapping case seriously and take immediate action to arrest the culprit.
“This is the first kidnapping case involving a cat and a random of thousands of ringgit in Malaysia.
“Animal Malaysia expresses concern that the crime of kidnapping pets will become widespread if no decisive action is taken by the authorities,” said Arie Dwi. — DayakDaily
