By TAN SIN CHOW

GEORGE TOWN, Malaysia: A woman is being investigated with six others for allegedly faking the kidnapping of her two-month-old baby girl in Seberang Prai, George Town.

It is learnt that police are also checking whether the mother, a 39-year-old Indonesian, could have sold her baby for a price but that the deal turned sour, prompting her to lodge a police report.

The woman had lodged a police report at the Bukit Tengah police station on Sunday, claiming that her daughter had been kidnapped by her friend, also an Indonesian.

She claimed her friend, 40, had visited her on June 24 and taken her daughter for a routine medical check-up at a nearby clinic, but did not return.

The mother alleged that she received an SMS from her friend several days later, asking for RM15,000 ($6,183) for the return of her daughter.

Police, who found the baby girl safe in a house in Bukit Mertajam on Tuesday, subsequently arrested seven people, including the mother, her friend and Malaysian boyfriend. Also nabbed were a Malaysian couple staying in the house.

All of them, aged between 28 and 45, have been remanded until next Tuesday.

State CID chief Senior Asst Comm II Wan Abdullah Tuanku Said said the baby's birth certificate was also found in the house.