KUCHING, Feb 23 — The police have arrested A 35-year old Sarawakian suspected to have been involved in scamming 47 Malaysians to work in Cambodia,only to arrested and detained for illegal online gambling.
Sarawak Commercial Crimes Investigation Department (CCID) head Superintendent Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah said the man was arrested at 3pm today.
“We are questioning him, but if we cannot complete our investigation within 24 hours, we will produce him in a magistrate’s court on Monday for a remand order,” he said in a statement this evening.
He said the police have so far received reports from 23 out of 47 victims since they arrived from Cambodia on February 17.
Forty of the victims are from Sarawak while rest are from other parts of Malaysia.
A Sarawak government delegation led by Minister of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah and the Malaysian Embassy officials helped to secure their release.
The Malaysians were arrested together with eight Chinese nationals in a raid by the police at two houses on December 11, 2018.
They were then detained in Banteay Meanchey provincial prison until their release on February 15..
The Malaysians had arrived in batches in Cambodia after being promised by a syndicate with a US$1,500 (RM6,118) monthly salary.
However, upon arrival, their phones and personal documents were confiscated, and were not allowed out of the house.
The Malaysians, whose charges relating to illegal online gambling operations, were dropped after the intervention of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who learnt that they were victims of a job agency syndicate.
