Eight teenage girls rescued from Lahad Datu factory
LAHAD DATU: Eight girls aged 14 to 18 years were rescued by police in a raid on a factory on Jalan Tungku, Silabukan, here yesterday.
The teens – from the Philippines and Indonesia – are believed to have been exploited as forced labour in the factory, said state CID chief SAC Azmi Abd Rahim.
“Investigations revealed the factory employed child labour and foreign workers without valid documents.
“Police also detained the 41year-old manager who is from Taiwan, along with the factory's supervisor and clerk to assist police investigation,” he said.
He added the raid, dubbed ‘Ops Pintas Mega' was led by DSP Heryan Mohd Tahir and also involved the Lahad Datu CID and narcotics divisions, as well as officers from the Sabah Labour Department.
Also detained were 18 foreign workers, comprising eight men and 10 women aged 17 to 55 from the Philippines and Indonesia, for not having any valid documents to be in the state.
All the detainees were taken to the Lahad Datu district police headquarters for further investigation under Section 14 of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007.
The case is also being investigated under sections 55B and 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63.
Meanwhile, Azmi said Ops Pintas Mega was launched nationwide on Jan 22 to combat human trafficking crimes.
“The focus of the operation is to identify victims of human trafficking, specifically child labour exploitation, based on the National Guideline on Human Trafficking Indicators 2.0,” he said.