SUBANG JAYA, MALAYSIA: A mother's love knows no bounds as a woman travelled more than 2,000km from Sri Lanka to save her son who had supposedly been kidnapped here.

The mother, in her 50s, brought along RM50,000(Sing 20860) , the ransom demanded by the kidnappers, for her son's release.

Her anxiety, however, turned to disappointment when she found out that the "kidnapping" had been staged by her son.

A police source said the 23-year-old son had come to Malaysia with his girlfriend six months ago. He apparently had plans to migrate to Australia but ran into difficulties when his funds ran out.

"The man and his girlfriend came up with the idea of getting funds by putting pressure on his mother.

"He got together with fellow compatriots in Kuala Lumpur and hatched the kidnap plan."

The group planned the "kidnap" with all the drama and flair required to convince the mother that her son was in dire straits.

The first stage of the plan was to contact the mother in Sri Lanka with the news of her son's "kidnap".

The caller threatened the woman that they would kill her son if she did not come up with the ransom.

"The mother was contacted several times by the 'kidnappers' and warned not to inform the authorities or else her son would be killed.

"The woman raised the money by borrowing from several relatives," the source said.

"The mother arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday and lodged a report at the Subang Jaya district police headquarters as she was worried about her son's safety.

"A task force was formed to probe the case."

The task force took 24 hours to track down the kidnappers. Several raids were conducted in Puchong and Sentul where seven suspects, including a woman from India, were arrested early yesterday.

All the suspects, aged between 20 and 30, have been remanded.

It is learnt that the mother is suffering severe mental distress after learning that the mastermind of the scheme was her son.

She has been sent to hospital for counselling.