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SEPANG (Malaysia), Oct. 6 (AP) Twenty-one other Malaysians rescued from human traffickers in Cambodia and Laos returned home Thursday, as the government ramped up its hunt for victims of scams reported missing abroad efforts of the people.
Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, who met some of the returning victims at the Kuala Lumpur airport, said the government had now managed to rescue 273 of the 401 reported missing in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.
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He told a news conference that with the exception of 60 people in immigration detention centers in countries that are still awaiting processing, most have returned.
Saifuddin, the head of the new government group dealing with the issue, said officials had stepped up measures to find the remaining 128. Most of the victims were in their 20s, he said, and urged Malaysians to double-check before taking any job abroad.
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The government has pledged to rescue Malaysians trapped in so-called “modern slavery” in the region.
The issue has become more urgent after a 23-year-old Malaysian died in a Thai hospital near the Myanmar border after falling victim to a human trafficking scheme.
Some opposition politicians believe the 401 reported missing are a small fraction of the actual number of Malaysians involved in such scams. The opposition is urging the government to take legal action against local agents working with human-trafficking syndicates and ban false job advertisements.
Cambodian officials say they have uncovered numerous illegal online schemes to lure illegal workers and arrested hundreds of people from mainland China and Taiwan for their involvement.
Scammers, mainly from China, have used Cambodia as a base for extortion, police said. Besides Cambodia, scammers have been known to set up bases in Laos and Myanmar, close to the Thai border.
Fraud networks, often linked to transnational organised crime, are built in countries with weak law enforcement to attract educated young workers who promise high wages, a UN envoy said. Unless they successfully trick victims they reach over the phone into transferring money into overseas bank accounts, the workers will face isolation and threats of violence. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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