Melaka Tengah police chief Christopher Patit said that the 55-year-old woman was arrested at about 3.30am today after she was found at a surau near a petrol station in Muar, Johor.

She had been reported missing yesterday after her son received a message from his mother’s phone, stating that she had been kidnapped and demanding RM70,000.

“Prior to that, the woman had asked her son to drop her off at a supermarket in Peringgit at 11.15 am. She said she was going to pay her phone bill but vanished, prompting her son to search the area for more than an hour,” he said in a statement today.

Christopher added that the woman admitted to staging the kidnapping in a desperate bid to settle approximately RM15,000 owed to ten Ah Longs.

He said that the woman claimed she took a bus from Melaka Sentral to Muar but ran out of money and took shelter at the surau near a petrol station.

“The woman also admitted to composing all the WhatsApp messages herself, and the police have seized two phones for further investigation. She has been remanded for six days to assist with the investigation.