MIRI: An eight year-old boy who was left alone for about 15 minutes at a bustling shopping mall in Jalan Bintang Wednesday evening was found safe by members of the public who later handed him over to the police.

The city police chief, ACP Khoo Leng Huat, who confirmed the incident said the boy’s father had come to the central police station to pick up his son at 7.27pm the same day.

“The boy has been identified as a Brunei citizen. Prior to the incident, the boy, together with his five other siblings and his father had gone to the mall to shop,” said Khoo.

He added the boy’s father did not realize one of his sons was missing when they were driving away from the shopping mall.

He only realised him missing about 10 minutes after leaving the shopping mall’s parking lot.

“The father, a civil servant in Brunei, immediately turned back to the shopping mall to look for his son and was told by security guards there that the boy had been taken to the police station,” Khoo said.

He added that the boy was picked from the police station at 7.27pm after the father produced the boy’s passport.

The incident had a happy ending, thanks to kind-hearted members of the public and the police.

A picture of the boy went viral on social media Wednesday as news of the missing Brunei kid spread like wildfire.

End-December is the busiest period of the year in Miri as many civil servants from Brunei also shop or spend their holidays here.