2 Trafficking Victims Recount Horror Experience In Cambodia

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Michael Chong during his conversation with the trafficking victims, who said they were being held by criminal syndicates in Cambodia.KUALA LUMPUR: Two victims of criminal syndicates in Cambodia have shared the horrifying conditions they live in while being held under duress there.
One victim, who secretly contacted MCA public services and complaints department head Michael Chong, revealed that about 50 people were being locked up in a building by the syndicate.
“We work more than 15 hours a day. They give us instructions to scam people around the world.
“If we do not perform, they hit us. More than 30 of us have been mistreated because we ‘underperformed’,” the victim said in a live conversation that was heard on speakerphone at Chong’s media conference here today.
Asked if they could escape, the victim, whose identity is being kept secret for safety, claimed that it was impossible to do so because there were gun-toting security guards at the building compound.
The victim was heard begging Malaysian police to rescue them as soon as possible, to which Chong replied that the authorities were working hard to locate their whereabouts and rescue them.
Another victim held by what is thought to be a different syndicate in Cambodia, claimed that there were 13 Malaysians and 16 others of various nationalities in his group.
Of the 13 Malaysians, the victim said five of them were women.
“We are asked to cheat people (in an online scam). If we fail, they would lock us up in a room for several days without meals,” he said.
Like the first victim, the second man said there was no way for them to escape as all possible exits had been sealed.
Last week, police said they had received six reports involving 26 victims who had been lured by syndicates to work in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.
Bukit Aman criminal investigation department director Abdul Jalil Hassan had said they would seek the assistance of Interpol and Aseanapol to track down and rescue the Malaysian victims. - FMT

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