KUALA LUMPUR: Thirteen children at shelter homes that were raided by the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) in an operation, codenamed Op Global, recently, are suspected to have been sodomised.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said this was based on the medical screening carried out on the 13 victims, who were from shelter homes in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan.
He said the police had opened four investigation papers (IP) against four men for an offence under Section 14 of the Sexual Offenses Against Children Act 2017.
Regarding the 402 occupants of the shelter homes who were rescued during Op Global last Wednesday, Razarudin said health screening had been conducted on 392 of them, comprising 202 men and 190 women.
He said the remaining 10 victims are persons with disabilities and autistic, who are below the age of 18.
The 10 victims, together with 49 children below the age of five years, have been handed over to the Social Welfare Department to be temporarily housed at its shelter homes in Bukit Beruntung, Cheras and Seremban, he added.
He said that based on police interviews with the victims, it was found that they had been separated from their parents since they were two years old.
Some of them had not met their parents for years as the parents are abroad, such as in Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, at the behest of the company” he told a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur Police Training Center here today.
Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department Director Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain was also present.
Razarudin said police were investigating to determine whether the children were separated from their parents voluntarily or forced by the company.
He said it was also found that the children at the shelter homes were the third and fourth generation who did not attend formal schooling and were only home-schooled, which is an offence.
“Following the operation, the police have opened 24 investigation papers including for offences under the Child Act 2001 and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007,” he said.
According to Razarudin, following the health screening done on the children, 172 of them had long-term physical and emotional injuries.
Regarding the 171 individuals arrested in the operation, he said, they comprised the caretakers and managers of the shelter homes, with 159 of them on remand for between four and seven days.
He said those aged between 18 and 51 were detained in lockups in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan.
Meanwhile, he said a 39-year-old man was arrested in Putrajaya yesterday for allegedly threatening a woman who had made a police report against the company.
He advised former members and those who have been victimised by the company to come forward to assist the police in the investigation.
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