Miri mum fears teen son kidnapped, held hostage by foreign job scam

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Hii is pictured during happier times.

MIRI (Sept 30): A mother here has filed a police report claiming her son may have been kidnapped and is being held hostage overseas by a possible job scam.

Hii Kok Pin, 19, has been unreachable by his family since July.

His mother, who only wished to be identified as Yang, also sought the help of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) Miri to track her son’s whereabouts.

In a press statement today, DAP Miri Youth chief Peter Hee said Hii told his family he was going to seek better employment in Kuala Lumpur and left here in January.

“In March, the family got in contact with the youth via Messenger, however he was very discreet. He only mentioned that he was fine but he couldn’t reveal his location.

“He promised that he would wire some money back home after obtaining permission from his ‘company’, yet they had not received any money until today,” said Hee.

Yang is flanked by Hee (left) and DAP Miri member Alan Sia at the Central police station after following up on the case.

As the family completely lost contact with Hii since early July, Yang decided to lodge a police report.

“The information disclosed by police told us that Hii is no longer in the country. Thus, we suspected he may have been kidnapped and being held hostage by scammers, who may be responsible for human trafficking syndicate,” Hee said after accompanying Yang at the Central police station to follow up on the case today.

Members of the public who may have seen Hii or know of his location can contact Hee on 016-8520666.

Hee also urged the state government to seriously look into increasing employment opportunities for local Sarawakians, especially youths, from the B40 group who choose to work rather than further their studies.

“We have noticed that those who’ve fallen victim in these scams are those who are eager to make money, to improve the living quality of their families.

“It is time to give offer more job opportunities for this group of people, who may not have high qualifications but are willing to work,” he added.