SEPANG: Five Malaysians who were duped into taking up high paying jobs in Cambodia were rescued and brought home safely today.
Federal Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Abdul Jalil Hassan, who travelled to Cambodia on a four-day rescue mission to bring them home, said as of yesterday police had received 262 reports involving 336 Malaysians who have been duped by job scams and were stranded in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
He said as a result of the ongoing crackdown operation and assistance from the Cambodian police, they had, so far, rescued 218 victims while another 118 were still stranded abroad.
"In Cambodia, we received 114 reports involving 145 victims. We formed a special mission to visit the local authorities for help.
"Checks showed that of the total, we have so far rescued 116 Malaysians from Cambodia and six more are at detention centres there.
"We are trying to locate the remaining 29 Malaysian victims with help from the local authorities," Jalil said at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport today.
Earlier, he led a mission comprising police officers from Bukit Aman's D3 Division (Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants), Foreign Ministry Secretary of the Communications and Public Diplomacy Division Devrin Anak Jeck and Malaysian Ambassador to Cambodia Datuk Eldeen Husaini Mohd Hashim to Cambodia for the rescue mission.
"This was a special mission jointly organised by the Foreign Ministry and the Cambodian authorities to discuss how we can cooperate (on the rescue mission) and resolve these scams.
Jalil said the four-day rescue mission from Jan 24 to 27 to Cambodia saw Malaysian and Cambodian authorities discussing safety and security matters involving job scammers targeting Malaysians.
He said the swift action of the Cambodian authorities had led to the rescue of five Malaysians aged between 16 and 42 years old.
The youngest victim brought back by the mission today was a 16-year-old autistic teen from Sarawak.
"I was told that most of the Malaysians who were duped into taking up jobs in Cambodia, would only contact the local authorities when they realised they had been scammed to work in casinos.
"These victims alleged that they were trafficked and held captive beyond their will, but in fact they knew what they were getting into.
"Many got involved in gambling, took up loans from loan sharks and claimed that they were victims of human trafficking to avoid repaying their debts," he said.
He added that the repatriation process would have taken about a month, but due to the good cooperation and relationship between both countries, it was completed within days.
He denied that Malaysians were tortured and starved by the syndicates.
"Apparently, the employers had set a target for the workers to achieve. If they failed to meet it then there would get punished. The claim of Malaysians being kept captive and chained are all not true," he clarified.
Jalil said parents, whose children are stranded outside Malaysia, should inform the police and Foreign Ministry of the matter.
"We are trying to locate another 24 Malaysians said to be stranded in Cambodia, but we do not have sufficient information about their whereabouts."
During the visit, he thanked the ministry for its cooperation and assistance.
Jalil said from now on, the Cambodian authorities would not entertain any request from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to carry out rescue missions.
"There have been reports that some NGOs were taking advantage of the situation to make some monetary gain from the situation. That is why we have jointly agreed on this," Jalil said.