Woman detained in probe on baby sale syndicate

KUALA LUMPUR: The police have detained a local woman, believed to be the operator of a centre for wayward girls in Rawang, on Wednesday to help investigations on alleged involvement with a baby for sale syndicate.

Bukit Aman’s CID AntiTrafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants Division principal assistant director SAC Maszely Minhad said the 58-yearold suspect was detained at the Hulu Selangor District Social Welfare Department (SWD) office at 4 pm on Wednesday.

“Police also rescued two women, aged 22 and 18 years, who were victims of the syndicate under Section 44 of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act (ATIPSOM) 2007.

“Applications of Interim Protection Order (IPO) on the victims have also been allowed for 21 days by the Selayang Magistrate’s Court today. They will be housed at a shelter,” he said in a statement here yesterday.

In the meantime, SWD’s Legal and Enforcement Division director Ahmad Rashid said the suspect had surrendered the certificate of registration which enabled the centre to operate.

“When the certificate is surrendered it means the operator aspires to shut down the centre. We will submit a report to our headquarters for further action,” he told Bernama when contacted yesterday.

In the meantime, Chow Kit Foundation chief operations officer, Ananti Raj, urged the ministry concerned to include the views of non-government organisations to seek the best solution to the problem.

Earlier, Women, Family and Community Development assistant minister Hannah Yeoh said the ministry would co-operate with SWD to tighten the laws on adoption.