DHAKA: Malaysia police claimed that they busted a syndicate of human traffickers that allegedly had trafficked as many as 1,752 Bangladeshis into Malaysia.
In last 13 months, the gang was very active. Police have arrested so far 64 migrants.
On October 15, Malaysia’s Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar in a statement said those who were arrested included 46 Bangladeshi migrants and 18 others who acted as agents, skippers, transporters, housekeepers and runners, Malaysia’s New Straits Times published this report on the following day.
"Among those arrested were two agents, six skippers, three transporters, three housekeepers and four runners. Thirteen of them are locals, four Bangladeshis and one Indonesian.”
"They were all picked up during a series of operations conducted between August 13 and October 13 in Selangor and Negri Sembilan," he said.
According to the media report, Khalid added that four vehicles, cash amounting to RM 23,100, 46 Bangladeshi passports, 55 mobile phones, chains, a cane and a few notebooks were also confiscated in the operation.
The syndicate is believed to be operating in Bangladesh and Indonesia with the network here especially in Selangor.
"The syndicate had between August 2014 and August this year smuggled 1,752 Bangladeshis into the country which involve transactions between RM 20 million and RM 30 million," Khalid said.
The suspects were held under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) 2012 and investigated under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act (ATIP-SOM) 2007.
"The 46 migrants and a Bangladeshi housekeeper have been charged under Section (1) (c) of the Immigration Act 1959/1963 at the Petaling Jaya magistrate's court on September 29 for entering the country without valid permit.”
“All of them pleaded guilty and sentenced to six months jail and will be deported,” Khalid said.
Meanwhile, six locals and two Bangladeshis were charged under ATIP-SOM for various offences, he added.
The police boss further said eight others, including six Malaysians have also been arrested and will be subjected to detention under Section 3 (1) of the Prevention of Crime Act (POCA) 1959, while another Malaysian got released.
CARAM Asia, a non-government organization working with migrants in Malaysia, regional coordinator Mohamed Harun al-Rashid on Wednesday morning told banglanews that earlier only Indonesians used this route.
Suddenly, Bangladeshi agents became involved with it. In last year, many trapped in Indonesia en route to Australia. It is suspected that they are being intruded into Malaysia.
He said that in Malaysia, there are many syndicates of this kind. The new syndicate is quite strong here in name of skilled and student visas. Malaysian and Bangladeshi agents do this in the eye of Malaysian police.
Applauding the Malaysia police mashing the syndicate, he said that strong cooperation between the two countries is needed to stop such trafficking.
He said if Bangladesh government could not catch the syndicate, the country’s image would be tarnished. Bangladeshis would be introduced to the world as a trafficked nation.
BDST: 1252 HRS, OCT 28, 2015
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