No spike in missing persons cases, says Home Minister

PUTRAJAYA: Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has refuted allegations that there has been a sudden spike of missing persons cases of late.

According to the Home Minister, police data indicates an annual average of 900 such cases.

“The fact is over the last five years, the average has been about 900 cases every year.

“There is no pattern of a sudden spike (according to) our data from 2020 to June this year,” he said in his speech at the ministry’s monthly meeting here on Tuesday (July 23).

It was reported earlier that six-year-old Albertine Leo Jia Hui, who went missing during a Bon Odori event in Johor Baru, was found safe at a hotel in Batang Kali, Hulu Selangor in the morning.

This was confirmed by Selangor police chief Comm Datuk Hussein Omar Khan.

Albertine was reported missing at around 8.30pm on Saturday (July 21) during the festival celebration at Eco Galleria in Johor Baru.

Johor police chief Comm M. Kumar told a press conference on Tuesday the police team that raided the hotel rescued the girl and arrested a male suspect who was with her.

In total, he said, five suspects had been arrested in connection with the case but police were still trying to determine the motive for kidnapping the girl.