VICTIM OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING SAVED IN LIMBANG

JAKARTA, April 23 (Bernama) -- An Indonesian teenage girl, aged 18, believed
to be forced in the sex slave trade by a human trafficking syndicate, was
rescued by the Consulate General of Indonesia in Limbang and sent back to her
family on Thursday.

Limbang is a border town in the east Malaysian state of Sarawak.

The girl, promised a lucrative salary of RM5,000 (US$1,470) for working in a
supermarket or restaurant by the syndicate, had accepted the job because she did
not have to pay anything to accept the offer.

Upon arrival in Limbang last September, she was asked to work as a guest
relations officer (GRO) at a night club in Limbang and had to entertain at least
two customers a day.

"On Sept 12, I arrived at the night club and was immediately 'booked'. The
nightmare continued every day," she told reporters at the Foreign Ministry
office here.

Her uncle who was with her at the office said two agents who claimed to be
from Jakarta had taken her to work in Malaysia and only realised later that she
had been conned.

Hendra Wirawan, an officer at the Consulate General's office in Kuching (the
capital of Sarawak) who arrived with the girl said the modus operandi of the
syndicate was to use agents to recruit unsuspecting victims and later 'selling'
them to pimps.

Hendra said they were also trapped into forcing their victims to pay huge
amount of money as travel expenses and would deduct their salary for months,
purportedly to settle their payment.

The girl said she was not paid any salary thus far because according to her
'employer' she still owed RM2,000 (US$588) for travel expenses to Limbang.
-- BERNAMA


Attachments:
untitled-[2] 4.5 k [ text/html ] Download | View
Delete & Prev | Delete & Next