KUALA LUMPUR – Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain has said that 13 children at shelter homes raided by the police in an operation codenamed Op Global on Wednesday are suspected to have been sodomised.
He said this was based on the medical screening carried out on 172 out of 392 suspected victims of sexual exploitation who were rescued from welfare homes in Selangor and Negri Sembilan, comprising 202 men and 190 women, Bernama reported.
The remaining 10 victims are persons with disabilities, who are below the age of 18, he added.
Razarudin also confirmed that four men are now being investigated under Section 14 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017.
The 10 victims, together with 49 children below the age of 5, were handed over to the Social Welfare Department. They will be temporarily housed at its shelter homes in Bukit Beruntung, Cheras and Seremban, he added.
He said police interviews with the victims found that they had been separated from their parents since they were 2.
Some of them have been separated from their parents for years as the parents lived abroad in locations like Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, “at the behest of the company”, Razarudin told a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur Police Training Centre here today, according to Bernama.
Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department Director Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain was also present.
The IGP said police were investigating if the parents voluntarily separated themselves from the children or if they were forced by the company.
He said it was also found that the children at the homes were the third and fourth generation to skip formal schooling and only home-schooled, which is an offence under the law.
The police have also opened 24 investigation papers including for offences under the Child Act 2001 and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007, he added.
Health screening done on the children showed 172 of them had long-term physical and emotional injuries.
Regarding the 171 individuals arrested in the raids, he said, they comprised the caretakers and managers of the shelter homes. 159 of them have been remanded between four and seven days, while the rest were minors.
He said those aged between 18 and 51 were detained in lockups in Selangor and Negri Sembilan.
41 police reports were received on activities related to the homes between 2011 and September this year, spanning around 13 years, he added.
On Wednesday, police raided 20 welfare homes and rescued 402 minors comprising 201 boys and 201 girls aged between 1 and 17.
The IGP said the premises raided were “welfare homes” linked to Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings Sdn Bhd (GISB Holdings), a multinational conglomerate involved in various businesses.
Investigations found that some of the rescued children were sodomised and taught to do the same to other children, while those who were sick were denied medical treatment, he said.
Razarudin added that the children’s bodies were touched inappropriately with the excuse that they were being given “Islamic treatments” while religious sentiments were used to garner sympathy in order for the homes to secure donations.
Meanwhile, GISB Holdings denied operating the welfare homes raided by police, after also denying any involvement in exploitative child labour.
The top cop also said that a 39-year-old man was arrested in Putrajaya yesterday for allegedly threatening a woman who made a police report against the company, Bernama reported.
He advised former members and those who have fallen victim to the company to come forward to aid police in the investigations. – September 13, 2024
