Safira Permatasari, the 20-year-old Universitas Indonesia (UI) student who went missing last Friday, was thankfully found and returned safely to her family yesterday.
It turns out Safira was a kidnapping victim and her captors had demanded US$ 1 million to return her to her parents.
The police say the kidnapping happened when Safira was in a taxi on her way to campus on Friday morning.
“When [the taxi reached] Lenteng Agung, a motorcyclist drove near the cab and started banging on the car’s hood. And then, a Toyota Avanza stopped near [the cab], three people got out and forcefully took the cab’s ignition key,” said South Jakarta Police Spokesperson Aswin, as quoted by Tempo.
The kidnappers then carried Safira away in the Avanza.
Soon after, the kidnappers sent Safira’s father, Fairus a text message demanding a ransom of US$ 1 million.
“They threatened to kill my daughter [if I didn’t pay],” Fairus said.
Fairus immediately reported the kidnapping to the police. The police then set up a sting operation and captured the kidnappers where Fairus had previously agreed to meet them to hand over the ransom money.
The police have reason to believe that the kidnapping was planned because Fairus recognized one of the kidnappers. While the number of captured kidnappers wasn’t revealed, the police also believe that there may be more accomplices still on the loose.
