JOHOR BARU - SIX people, including a Vietnamese woman factory worker, have been arrested over the kidnapping of a 55-year-old wife of a businessman for RM$1 million (S$413,000) ransom.

Johor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff said the six, aged between 19 and 35, were picked up in a series of raids soon after the victim was released unharmed on June 26.

The housewife was kidnapped in Sungai Mati in Ledang on June 22.

The kidnappers demanded a RM1mil ransom, but agreed on RM$650,000 after negotiations.

Police recovered RM$556,976 of the ransom money and are on the lookout for a remaining gang member, DCP Mohd Mokhtar told reporters there on Tuesday.

The six suspects, one of them previously jailed a year for burglary, have been remanded for a week to assist in the investigations.

Police are keen to contact Chew Ern Tik, 39, who they believe can help in the probe.

DCP Mohd Mokhtar added that 156 snatch thieves had been nabbed in the state so far this year, the latest a 24-year-old who tried to rob a woman in Jalan Kasa in Taman Sentosa on Sunday. -- THE STAR