A Singaporean man was about to get lynched by an angry mob in Batam, Indonesia, after he was suspected of trying to kidnap a child. The incident took place on April 29 when the man was at a convenience store near a residential area at Batu Aji, Batam.
According to a iNews report, the man, who was identified as GW, had gone to the convenience store to but a few things for himself. When he came out of the store, the bespectacled man gave some candy to a child who was playing nearby.
Mob became increasingly hostile
This was noticed by an individual who accused GW of trying to kidnap the child as he mistook the act. Hearing the commotion, the local people began to gather around GW and the mob became increasingly hostile as it grew in size.
Fortunately, a police patrol car passed by, and the officers intervened into the matter and took the Singaporean man away from the mob.
GW faced difficulty explaining himself
But as GW did not speak Bahasa Indonesia, he faced difficulty explaining himself at the police station. The police also didn't get any evidence against the man to support the kidnapping allegations made by the locals and thus released him concluding him as an innocent.
Batam Immigration Office head Samuel Toba told iNews, "What the man did was not a common gesture in the area, so the community grew suspicious."
However, following the incident, GW was deported from Indonesia to remove him from the hostile situation.
