Three nabbed in probe on ‘rogue’ 6P firm

Cheras police, investigating the assault of Bangladeshi workers, say one more suspect is still at large.

PETALING JAYA: Police are on the hunt for one more suspect after arresting three foreigners in an investigation against a government-appointed firm in the 6P amnesty programme. The probe follows an exposure of CCTV recordings showing foreign workers being subjected to brutal treatment.

Cheras district police chief Mohan Singh said the three suspects, arrested last week, will either have their remand period extended or be charged, depending on instructions from the Attorney-General’s Chambers. He declined to provide further details about the suspects and their roles in the case.

“I cannot tell you more, but we are still looking for one person,” he told FMT. “Those arrested will be remanded till the end of this week and we will be referring the investigation papers to the deputy public prosecutor and we’ll see if we need to extend their remands or charge them,” he said.

The case comes under Section 12 of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons (ATIP) Act 2007, which provides for imprisonment of traffickers for up to 15 years.

The act covers a wide range of offences, including the use of force, threat, abduction and deception. “These are all the things that contribute to someone being trafficked,” Mohan said.

On Nov 5, FMT published a report about two CCTV videos showing Bangladeshi workers being assaulted, allegedly by employees of SNT Universal Corporation, a company based in Taman Maluri, Cheras.

The videos were exposed by the Selangor Council Against Human Trafficking (Mapmas) with the help of a whistleblower. The assault victims in the video are said to come from a group of about 200 who were supposed to have been registered by the company under the 6P programme but had realised that they had been cheated.

Under the 6P programme, illegal foreign workers will either be legalised or deported without punishment. The six Ps represent the Malay words for registration, legalisation, amnesty, monitoring enforcement and deportation. The government has appointed more than 300 companies to carry out the registration.

In a statement following the video expose, Mapmas task force member Abdul Aziz Ismail said SNT might have committed fraud by setting up more than a dozen other companies to act as “bogus employers”. It was alleged that these companies had no business infrastructure and were formed for the sole purpose of obtaining fraudulent work permits for foreign workers under the 6P programme.