JOHOR BARU, Jan 20 — The Home Ministry today confirmed that a Bangladeshi boy discovered inside a shipping container at the Westport area of Port Klang on Tuesday was not a victim of a human trafficking syndicate.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said that there was no evidence to suggest the involvement of human trafficking syndicates.
He said a police investigation had been carried out and the boy was in the process of being repatriated.
“The boy, known only as ‘Fahim’, was found in one of the containers brought by a ship from Bangladesh. When the ship arrived in Port Klang, the container was unloaded and it was found that there was a child inside.
“We do not draw conclusions on aspects of human trafficking anymore because the initial investigations revealed that the boy had entered inside the container, then fell asleep and later arrived here,” said Saifuddin to reporters after chairing the Coordinating Committee Meeting on Tackling Congestion at the Johor Causeway at the Sultan Iskandar Building’s CIQ Complex here today.
He was responding to the discovery of a foreign boy in a shipping container in the Westport area in Port Klang that went viral on social media yesterday.
Saifuddin said the boy was alone inside the container, and has been sent for a medical examination during which he was also treated for a fever.
“The process for him to be sent home (repatriated) was made according to legal channels,” he said.
Yesterday, a video went viral on social media showing a Bangladeshi boy found in a container arriving at the Westport in Port Klang.
The ship, MV Integra, which was transporting containers loaded with miscellaneous general items arrived in Westport on January 17.
The boy is believed to have entered the container without authorisation when the ship was docked in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
