We’ll do what it takes to bring home scam victims, says Saifuddin

 

Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said some who were stranded overseas for being unable to repay their gambling debts had reported themselves as scam victims. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Victims of scam syndicates stranded abroad have been assured that the government would do whatever it takes to help them come home, based on the principle of the right to return.

The assurance came from home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, who said the government would use diplomatic or agency-to-agency relations and shared intelligence in an effort to locate and rescue the victims.

“The government will prioritise the right to return to Malaysians no matter what; as long as we know they are outside the country and in trouble, the government will do whatever it takes to bring them back,” he said, according to Bernama.

Speaking in Sungai Petani, Saifuddin said the number of victims of human trafficking had increased over the past four or five years.

He had been asked for comments about a newspaper report today about nearly 2,000 Malaysians still trapped in several neighboring countries since last year as victims of human trafficking syndicates.

The reports quoted Hishamuddin Hashim, secretary-general of the Malaysian international humanitarian organisation, as saying that more than 1,200 victims were believed to be in Myanmar as forced laborers doing various jobs.

Saifuddin said the government would refer only to cases reported to the authorities, and detection and rescue operations would be undertaken as soon as complaints were received.

“It is important to report accurate figures. Let the government act on the official figures because only then can aid be launched through cooperation with the host country,” he said.

He said family members of victims must cooperate with the authorities to provide information for profiling purposes after the victim is rescued.

However, some victims were those who were really naive and placed their trust in the syndicates.

Others knew it was a scam from the beginning but left anyway, and some had nothing to do with scams but reported themselves as scam victims because they could not repay their gambling debts overseas and could not return, he said. - FMT