KUALA TERENGGANU: A trader was assaulted on Saturday, allegedly by a group of people who were his friends.

He is in critical condition in the intensive care unit at Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital.

The 23-year-old man had left his house in Kampung Tok Jiring with his friends in a van and did not return home.

State CID deputy chief Superintendent K. Manoharan said the trader's older brother lodged a report at the police station here at 2.45am on Sunday when the family learnt that he had been assaulted.

Police arrested five men, aged between 19 and 25, near the hospital compound. --NST