Cops probe claim ‘hundreds’ of Malaysians held captive in Myanmar

 

Cheah telling MCA public services and complaints department chief Michael Chong and other members of the department what he saw in the building in Myawaddy, Myanmar.

PETALING JAYA: Police are investigating a claim that hundreds of Malaysians are being held captive in Myanmar by a syndicate that runs a love scam.

However, police have so far not received any information on Malaysian captives other than from the youth who made the allegation, according to Fadil Marsus, the principal assistant director of Bukit Aman CID’s anti-trafficking in persons and anti-smuggling of migrants division.

“We are looking into the victim’s claim,” Fadil told FMT, referring to the 19-year-old who gave his name as Cheah and said he paid a ransom for his release.

“We are working with relevant agencies to rescue other victims.”

On Wednesday, Cheah said he was duped into working as a waiter at a karaoke centre in Thailand before being taken to a village in Myawaddy in south-eastern Myanmar.

There, he said, he met other Malaysian victims held in a four-storey building. There were about 300 on each floor, he claimed.

He said the captives were monitored by Malaysians who were members of a syndicate and who would brainwash their victims into scamming people across the world.

Cheah said he was forced to be involved in a love scam operation and that his targets were Chinese living in the US, Singapore and Taiwan.

“I only worked for three days,” he said. “After that, they hit me with a baseball bat every day because I refused to work.”

He said his family paid the syndicate RM70,000 for his release. - FMT