M'sian police bust major maid racket
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FOREIGN MAID AGENT ALLEGEDLY SEXUALLY ABUSED WORKERS
The arrest of a foreign maid agent for dumping the body of a baby has led to the discovery of a syndicate in Malaysia that has been holding foreign maids who were forced to work without pay and were sexually abused.
The man, in his 40s, has allegedly been sexually abusing at least 29 maids working for him while withholding their salaries. All the maids did not have work permits.
The man allegedly hires out the women to employers on a part-time basis as maids and cleaners. Some of these employers were also said to have sexually abused the women.
Selangor police chief Senior Deputy Commissioner Datuk Abdul Samah Mat said police were initially alerted about the case on Saturday after a 33-year-old Indonesian woman, who claimed to be working for the agent for two years, lodged a police report that her six-month-old baby had died and could not be found.
She also alleged that the baby was conceived after she was raped by one of her employers last year.
“When the employer found out she was pregnant, he sent her back to the agent and she was forced to work for several other people during her pregnancy,” Abdul Samah said yesterday.
Police raided three houses in Kota Kemuning on Monday and detained 12 Indonesian women.
He said the 12 women and the complainant, aged in their 20s and 30s, had all overstayed their visas and did not have work permits.
“The women claimed that they were not paid and were subjected to sexual abuse by the agent and other employers,” he said.
Abdul Samah said police raided another house in Kota Kemuning on Tuesday and arrested the agent’s wife to help with investigations. “The suspect subsequently turned himself in at the Shah Alam police headquarters on Tuesday night,” he said.
Abdul Samah said the complainant gave birth to the baby on November 21 last year and her colleagues took care of the baby while she worked.
“On May 31, when she came back to the house where she was allegedly forced to live with other foreign women, one of them told her that her baby had died and was taken by the agent,” he said.
“She tried contacting the agent but he could not be reached. She then lodged a police report.
“On Wednesday morning, the suspect led a team of police to Genting Highlands where he confessed to dumping the baby’s body.”
Police found the body.
Abdul Samah said the suspect claimed he had panicked when he found out about the dead baby and dumped it. He had been remanded for a week to help police investigations.
“The case has been classified as murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code,” he said, adding that the body of the infant was sent to Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah for a post-mortem.
