JOHOR BARU, May 3 — Ten underage foreign girls were rescued from a sex trafficking syndicate operating behind a spa and massage parlour front here during an Immigration Department raid yesterday.
Director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said the operation was launched following public complaints and intelligence gathered by the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Money Laundering (Atipsom and Amla) Division in Putrajaya.
“As many as 71 individuals were detained including seven local men believed to be ‘captains’, and 10 underage women rescued,” he said in a statement posted on the department’s official Facebook account.
He added that more than RM128,000 in cash was seized during the raid.
Separately, the New Straits Times reporting on the incident disclosed that the 10 underaged girls were six Vietnamese and four Indonesians, based on the National Guideline on Human Trafficking Indicators.
Their ages were not disclosed.
“These victims were allegedly misled with false job offers, denied wages, had their passports withheld, and were coerced into providing sex services,” Zakaria was also quoted telling a news conference.
According to the New Straits Times, 53 other women from Vietnam and Indonesia, between the ages of 18 and 40 were also found at the hidden premises, and suspected to be involved in the prostitution ring.
“Some of the women were found entertaining local and foreign clients during the raid, while others were discovered hiding in a concealed room built into the premises, believed to have been used to evade detection,” Zakaria was quoted as saying.
He added that the sex trafficking ring would promote its services to select customers through WeChat and WhatsApp, charging between RM200 and RM300 per hour.