Crime & Courts

Many parents unaware of children's rescue from homes: IGP [WATCH]

KUALA LUMPUR: Most of the parents of the 392 children rescued by police from 20 welfare homes under the GISB Holdings Sdn Bhd (GISBH) company have been identified.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said, however, that none had come forward to be interviewed.

"It is possible that many of them did not know that their children had been rescued during the raids.

"There may be parents who do not acknowledge their children since the GISBH management claims the children are orphans," he told reporters today.

He said based on investigations some of the rescued children had "bin Abdullah" in their registered name, indicating that the children were born without any details on who their parents were.

"There may be a possibility that some of their parents were also illegally married (perkahwinan tak sah). This is why we have taken samples from the children and will conduct DNA analysis to verify who their parents are," he said.

Razarudin added that parents who wished to claim their children would need to fulfil certain criteria before they would be permitted to do so.

"Firstly, they will need to undergo an investigation by the Welfare Department to see if they are fit to take care of their children.

"Secondly, police will also conduct their investigation to see if there are elements of neglect or abandonment in how the children came to be placed at these welfare homes," he said.

It was reported that GISB has been on the police watch list since 2011, and the coordinated raids on 20 welfare homes were the culmination of a six-month probe to gather intelligence, build a case and formulate an action plan.

Police had been monitoring the company long before the recent allegations of child exploitation and abuse went viral on social media.

Razarudin had said that he met with representatives from the Research Centre for Deviant Teachings (Pukas) six months ago.

Wednesday's raids saw 402 children, aged from one to 17, being rescued from alleged exploitation and abuse.

Razarudin said the victims had endured various forms of exploitation and abuse, including being sodomised.

He also said initial investigations revealed that some of the caretakers had also taught the children to sodomise other children.

GISB Holdings Sdn Bhd has since denied the allegations and any links to the case.

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