Grab driver in Malaysia stripped naked, robbed by passenger and accomplices

KUALA LUMPUR — A 34-year-old teacher, who works as a part-time Grab driver in Penang, suffered a 12-hour living nightmare when thieves robbed his possessions, stripped him naked for photos and held him hostage.

According to a police report made on July 16, the victim picked up a man who wanted to be taken to two locations, before heading to Batu Ferringhi in Penang at 2.30pm on July 14.

“He asked for two detours, one supposedly to buy nasi kandar for his mother and the second was to Tanjung Pinang, a 2km drive from Gurney Plaza, to his house," said the driver.

According to a news portal, a police investigator said that the man told the driver that he wanted to look for transvestites along Gurney Drive.

When they arrived at Jalan Seri Tanjung Pinang, Tanjung Tokong, the man asked the driver to stop at a roadside car wash, where two other men approached them, claiming to be policemen.

"They took out my car keys and pulled me out. They then searched my car, took my wallet and two mobile phones," he continued.

The two "policemen" then accused the driver of being a member of a prostitution syndicate. They told him that he could be freed if he gave them RM3,000 (S$1,010), which he said he did not have.

The men then asked for RM500.

Desperate to get out of the situation, the driver told them that he did not have the money on him, but that he would ask his friends for help.

He was then forced to lie to his friends, telling them that he got into an accident, and they later banked in RM500 into his account.

"After that, the men stripped me and took photos of me," the driver went on to say in the police report.

The driver was then ordered to withdraw all of his money from a bank, a total of RM300, and was taken to a gambling den at Jalan Anson. The robbers were said to have used the man's online banking account to place bets.

“They also took me to a pawn shop … where I was forced to pawn my two iPhone 6s for RM630," he added.

Before letting him go, the thieves took his remaining cash and threatened to hunt him and his family down if he were to make a police report.

Since then, police have caught one of the thieves, said to be a 35-year-old "consultant," while the two other are still being traced.

Malaysia’s north-east district police chief Assistant Commissioner Anuar Omar said that the man caught was wanted in Kuala Lumpur for two cases of theft and extortion.

He also has a criminal record of two cases of cheating in 2012 and 2016.

A Grab spokesperson is reported to have said the company is looking into the case. NEW STRAITS TIMES