2 Bangladeshi 'human traffickers' held, 9 victims rescued in Malaysia

2 Bangladeshi 'human traffickers' held, 9 victims rescued in Malaysia

Malaysia's immigration department has detained nine Bangladeshi nationals who were victims of human trafficking, along with two Bangladeshi suspected traffickers.

The state news agency Bernama reported that the immigration department raided a house in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, and arrested two members of a Bangladeshi human trafficking syndicate known as the 'Shafiq Gang'.

Following the raid on May 5, Immigration Director General Zakaria Shaaban said nine Bangladeshi nationals were detained on suspicion of having been trafficked into Malaysia. Two other Bangladeshi members of the syndicate, who acted as facilitators, were also arrested.

The detainees are aged between 20 and 49. They have been placed at the Putrajaya Immigration Depot for investigation under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007.

The house used as a transit point to hide undocumented migrants was raided. The nine Bangladeshis are believed to have entered a neighbouring country about two days ago before being trafficked into Malaysia. The two other Bangladeshis arrested worked as guards at the transit house.

The syndicate had been active since February, using routes through third countries and entering Malaysia illegally via the Kelantan border. Victims were then brought directly to the Klang Valley area and sent to their final destinations. The syndicate charged up to 15,000 ringgit (3,825 US dollars) per migrant and had conducted business worth approximately 1.6 million ringgit (over 408,000 US dollars) since the operation began.