A senior South African diplomat who went missing in Malaysia for a week has been found and is safe, police said yesterday. They did not say how Deputy Ambassador Nicky Scholtz was found.

?We have found him. He is safe,? said a police officer. Scholtz, 54, took up his posting last month and is said to have been the first diplomat to go missing in Malaysia. He appeared to have been snatched from the hotel where he had attended a conference. It was not yet clear whether his captors had made any demands.

Official news agency Bernama quoted Kuala Lumpur district police chief Hadi Ho Abdullah as saying abduction and wrongful confinement were elements in the case.

In South Africa, the foreign ministry said in a statement Scholtz had been freed by his captors and Malaysian police were interviewing him about his ordeal.