Cops rescue 18 from abusive estate managers
IPOH: Lured from Bahau, Negri Sembilan, to work in an estate in Pengkalan Hulu, they were promised a RM900 monthly wage and comfortable accommodation. But it was nothing like they imagined.
Eighteen people, including five children, were rescued yesterday after an informant told the police that they were trafficked and exploited by a couple managing an oil palm estate in Kg Tasek, Pengkalan Hulu.
The victims comprised five men, six women, two teenagers aged 13 and 17 and five children aged two to 12.
Police arrested a 43-year-old man and 24-year-old woman believed to be the middleman for these people.
It is believed that the female suspect, who is from Negri Sembilan, forced the underage victims to toil in the plantation without any wages.
According to a police source in Pengkalan Hulu, the victims were promised a place with electricity and clean water to stay in.
However, what they actually got was a dilapidated shelter.
The source said they would normally request for food and other necessities from the managers but they did not know that it would be deducted from their salary.
When they realised it and questioned the managers about their salary, they were abused and beaten by them.
Some have been working there for six months and some for two years. Most of the victims are from Bahau and were previously unemployed.
The victims were free to move around during weekends, said the source.
Perak CID chief Senior Asst Comm Datuk Gan Tian Kee said that based on initial investigations, one of the victims said the employer used to beat them if they did not work in the farm.
SAC Gan said the couple controlled all these victims and were the middleman for the oil palm plantation.
The couple lured this group and they were the ones managing the farm, he said.