The Malaysian government has been urged to pressure their counterparts in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and the Philippines to speed up the return of Malaysians trafficked by scam syndicates.
At a press conference today, Sim Chon Siang, an opposition assemblyman from Teruntum who was joined by two Malaysians who had just been freed from syndicates in Cambodia, said that many more Malaysians were still held captive in other nations.
“He (the prime minister) has to make the call to speed up their return. There are a lot of Malaysians still stuck in those countries,” said Sim.
The victims, only known as Miss A and Miss B, had been stranded in Cambodia since June.
Both had been duped into travelling to Thailand under the pretence of working as “shopping runners,” but they were taken away to Cambodia when they arrived in Bangkok.
Each family was required to pay the syndicate approximately RM157,000 (US$35,000) to be released. The two ladies were then taken to a Cambodian police station, where they spent the next two days without access to food or water.
“After taking their statements, the police did nothing. They didn’t give them food or water,” Sim claimed.
They were transferred to an immigration detention facility two days later, where they had to remain for two months.
Sim said that after learning of their predicament, he contacted Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen; as a result, Miss A and Miss B were allowed to travel back to Malaysia two days later.
RELATED: More than a hundred Malaysians rescued in Cambodia over job scams since 2018
