KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 — Police have arrested the operator of an unlicensed children’s home and three others, uncovering a horrifying decade of alleged sexual abuse that has left multiple young male residents hospitalised with injuries consistent with repeated assault.

The victims, boys aged between 9 and 17 who were residents at the home in Taman Selayang Permata, are now warded at Hospital Selayang. The home had been operating for approximately 10 years, the New Straits Times reported.

Police have arrested four suspects, including the 31-year-old male operator and a 17-year-old resident of the home. They have been remanded to assist with the investigation.

The horrific abuse was brought to light by the NGO Pertubuhan Kebangkitan Tiga Tangan Selangor (PKTTS), after two former residents who recently turned 18 broke years of silence.

“They kept this buried for years. When they finally spoke, what came out was horrifying and very disturbing,” said PKTTS president S. Maran.

“This is not an isolated incident. This is systematic, repeated abuse that we believe went on for a long time.”

Maran said his team lodged a police report on Sunday before visiting the home that night under the pretext of a birthday celebration to investigate the claims. There, several current residents began opening up and were able to identify the alleged perpetrators.

The situation escalated, he said, when evidence allegedly linking the suspects to the abuse was discovered on their mobile phones.

“With the victims’ admissions and what we discovered, there was no longer any doubt. These children were abused,” Maran stated.

The devastating impact on families is now coming to light. A single mother who had placed her two sons, aged 9 and 10, at the home said she was shattered to learn they were among the victims.

“I trusted this place for more than eight years. I came to see them almost every week but never once did it strike me that such abuses have been taking place here,” she said, adding that she was taking both her boys home.

Investigations revealed the home was not registered with the Social Welfare Department and operated as a private company, housing 36 children.

The arrests were confirmed by Bukit Aman’s Sexual, Women and Child Investigation Division (D11) principal assistant director, Senior Assistant Commissioner Siti Kamsiah Hassan.

“The suspects have been arrested and police investigations are still ongoing,” she said.