KUALA LUMPUR: Police have rescued 137 foreign nationals, including children, from becoming victims of human trafficking through Op Pintas Mega as of August this year.
During this operation, conducted by the Anti-Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Division (Atipsom) of the Criminal Investigation Department (JSJ) at Bukit Aman, a total of 398 individuals were arrested.
Bukit Aman's D3 Division head Senior Assistant Commissioner Soffian Santong said that this comprehensive crackdown on human trafficking crimes was carried out nationwide in two phases this year.
"The first phase, which took place in January, involved 42 raids and led to the arrest of 285 individuals, both locals and foreigners.
"In this phase, 64 victims were rescued, including 12 men, 22 women, 10 boys, and 20 girls," he said.
He said that the second phase, conducted in June, saw 33 raids resulting in the arrest of 113 individuals.
An additional 73 victims were rescued, including 25 men, 26 women, and 22 boys, he added.
Soffian revealed that the majority of the rescued victims were from Myanmar (35 individuals), followed by Thailand (25) and Indonesia (23). Others included individuals from Bangladesh (17), the Philippines (9), Malaysia (8), Cambodia, Vietnam, and China (5 each), the Rohingya ethnic group (3), and Nepal (2).
"This integrated operation involved multiple agencies, including the Immigration Department, the Labour Department, the Environment Department, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), and local authorities. It targeted factory premises, plantations, fisheries, service sectors, and beggars."
"We are committed to eradicating human trafficking and will take strict legal action, including utilising the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma)," he added.