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Taxi driver rewarded for helping kidnapped girl
Dadang was also invited to a lunch banquet with the company’s directors as a token of appreciation.
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Illustration of kidnapping (Shutterstock.com/Feng Yu)
D
adang, a Jakarta-based taxi driver, received an award from his company for his heroic action of saving a kidnapped 20-year-old from Jambi on Tuesday.
According to a statement issued by taxi operator PT Blue Bird, Dadang was looking for passenger when he saw the girl, identified only as NA, near the Empu Sendok bus stop in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta. The driver recounted that the girl had looked disheveled and confused.
“I talked to her and he asked me ‘Pak, where am I? What day is it?’” Dadang said in a statement.
He added that the girl had asked him to contact her family members through Facebook as she had lost her phone.
"I contacted her father through Facebook and was surprised to find out that the girl had been missing for five days."
NA’s father, Halil, said she had kidnapped by a group of unidentified people after withdrawing money from an ATM machine at Jambi Market on May 29.
"She called and texted me the day after asking for help. I told her to run away, but she said she couldn’t because she was locked in a trunk and she did not know where she was," Halil said as quoted by kompas.com.
Read also: Minor found after being kidnapped, raped for almost four years
Dadang said NA managed to flee her captors after playing dead. She said her kidnapers had dumped her on the side of the road.
"After contacting her father, I drove NA to the Senen Police station [in Central Jakarta], where she was eventually picked up by her relatives.”
The driver said he was honored to have received the award.
Dadang was also invited to a lunch banquet with the company’s directors as a token of appreciation.
He said he had decided to help the girl because he did not want the same thing to happen to his daughters and nieces.
"I could not imagine if something like that happened to my daughters or nieces. I helped her because of what I believe in. I really don't want any exposure," Dadang said.
PT Blue Bird appreciated Dadang’s goodwill despite the current difficult situation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Dadang, whose income has dropped due to the pandemic, sacrificed his time and energy [...] He chose not to pick up other passengers to help the girl. […] It showed his kindness and sincerity to help others in need," the company wrote in a statement.
Jambi Police's criminal investigation chief Comr. Suhardi Hary Haryanto said investigators were currently investigating the case, kompas.com reported.
