[sigrekatonov]

JOHOR BARU - A five-year-old girl went missing after she went out to buy instant noodles and eggs near her flats in Seri Alam.

Nurul Nadirah, affectionately known in her family as Dirang, failed to return home to her Seri Delima Flats in Seri Alam after going out to a sundry shop next block on Thursday.

Her mother Roselyn Alan, 25, said her husband Lima Medeng, 25, gave Nurul Nadirah RM4 (S$1.6) and a hand-written note at 11am asking her to go to the shop to buy the items for lunch.

When she did not return home after an hour, Lima went to the shop and the shopkeeper told him that his daughter had left after buying the items.

Rosleyn said the couple alerted the neighbours who searched the area, including her favourite spot at a nearby playground, but there was no trace of her.

She added that the police told them that Nurul Nadirah's green slippers and a plastic bag containing the instant noodles and eggs were found some 500m from the flat on Sunday.

The family also pasted leaflets about the girl around the Masai area.

Roselyn said her daughter had always gone out on her own to play with her friends since she was three.

"I can't sleep and I can't eat. I will not tell her off for being so noisy again. I just want her back in my arms," said the mother-of-three, while adding that their home had been silent without her daughter's singing and dancing.

Rosleyn urged members of the public to contact the police immediately if they had seen her daughter who was last seen wearing a pink T-shirt and white shorts.

Johor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mokhtar Shariff said three suspects, including a woman, had been detained to facilitate investigations.

The suspects, aged between 36 and 40, were arrested on the same day that police received reports about the missing child.

"We have conducted searches at 20 separate locations but are still unable to find the girl," he said, adding that the suspects had been remanded until today.