Isu Hangat: Undergrads taken on terror ride

Undergrads taken on terror ride

By KULDEEP S. JESSY

KAJANG: A man in his 40s stole a factory bus, picked up two university students, robbed them at knifepoint and forced them to strip down to their undergarments by threatening to throw curry powder in their faces.

However, a passing motorist who saw the girls waving for help from inside the bus, alerted police.

When police dashed to the scene five minutes later, the man fled towards a sewage treatment plant and jumped into the pond in a bid to get away.

The two policemen had to jump in as well to nab the man who has a criminal record of sodomy, robbery, blackmail and theft.

Vehicle in drama: The factory bus that was used to ferry the two students out of the UKM campus where they were robbed at knife-point.

The man stole the bus from Shah Alam and drove into Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Bangi, without the security guards' knowledge.

He is believed to have picked up students and ferried them from one spot to another internally.

Kajang OCPD Asst Comm Rosli Mohd Nizam said that at about 9.30am the man dropped off a female student at a bus stop, picked up two other female students whose lectures had been cancelled and drove them out of the campus instead of to their hostel.

When the first-year law students questioned him, he said that he was new and did not know his way round the campus well.

"However, two kilometres out of campus, the man stopped near a petrol station, held them up at knife-point and robbed them of their cash and valuables.

"He then ordered them to strip and threatened to toss curry powder in their faces if they did not do so," ACP Rosli said here yesterday.

He tied up the terrified students with their clothes, and drove towards the Bangi toll plaza.

About 100m from the toll plaza, he stopped the bus, locked all the doors, got off and started making calls on his mobile phone.

The students, who managed to free themselves, pushed aside the curtains of a window and started waving frantically for help.

A passing motorist saw the frightened faces and alerted the Bandar Baru Bangi police.

ACP Rosli said a knife and a packet of curry powder were recovered. They also found two mobile phones belonging to the students, a laptop, cash and other valuables.

ACP Rosli thanked the motorist who had alerted the police and the policemen who acted quickly to prevent a repeat of the Noor Suzaily Mukhtar case when the computer engineer was raped, sodomised and murdered in a bus in Klang seven years ago.