We are delighted to advise our readers that this morning, (May 3^rd) Nayati Moodliar has been returned to his family, safe and sound.

There was an outpouring of support and well wishes from people all over Malaysia when Nayati was kidnapped last Friday morning on the way to school. It was a very tense and anxious week for his family as they negotiated with the kidnappers for their son’s release.

The Moodliar’s paid an undisclosed sum to the kidnappers. To our knowledge this is the first time that an expat child has been kidnapped although kidnapping is not that uncommon in Malaysia. Very often families make payments without contacting the police.

His Father, Sham Moddliar, posted the following message on his Facebook page, “We are delighted to tell you that Nayati is back home with us and although it has obviously been a very traumatic time for him he appears at this stage to be in good shape. We cannot begin to say how proud we are of him and the way that he has coped with the events of the past week. We have been overwhelmed by the support we have received from all our friends here in Kuala Lumpur and all over the world. We are unable to find the words to express our gratitude but we will never forget what they did for us”.

All expats families should be on extreme alert and not let children out of their sight in public places or let them make their own way to school. The fact that an expat child has been successfully kidnapped and a ransom paid may well embolden other gangs to try the same thing.

We very much hope that the police will catch the perpetrators and make it clear this type of crime does not pay. In the meantime we urge all expats to exercise extreme caution and advise any other expats you know to do the same. We will be posting more comments on this topic in the coming weeks

This news item was originally posted on ExpatKL.com on 3 May 2012.  ExpatKL.com has been rebranded ExpatGoMalaysia.com.