KUCHING: They were promised high-paying jobs in Cambodia, but instead were duped by a “recruitment agency” which was a front for a human trafficking syndicate and are now languishing in jail several hundred kilometres from Phnom Penh.
The Malaysians, including nine women, were detained on Dec 11 in Poipet, Banteay Mancheay, on the outskirts of the Cambodian capital, for allegedly being members of an international online gaming syndicate.
However, when the Malaysian embassy in Cambodia investigated, they found that the Malaysians, aged between 19 and 44, and mostly from Sabah and Sarawak, had been waiting for legitimate jobs while in Cambodia.
Julau member of parliament Larry Sng said 44 of these Malaysians are from Sarawak.
He said their arrests were only known when a Cambodian newspaper reported about it.
“Most of the Sarawakians are Iban who, like the others, were enticed by the promise of high-paying jobs. They were cheated by this recruitment agency which we believe is run by a human trafficking syndicate who target mostly those from rural areas.
“We have received information that they were brought to Cambodia in stages and were charged between US$100 and US$200 (between RM407.50 and RM815) each by the syndicate. We don’t know what kind of work they were promised but they were guaranteed high-paying jobs,” he said in a press conference.
Sng said he, Lubok Antu MP Jugah Muyang, PKR Sarawak adviser Datuk Seri Hafsah Harun, Sarawak Iban Dayak Association representative Sidi Munan and Sarawak Dayak Graduants Association representative Dr Dusit Jaul would be trying to assist the Malaysians detained in Cambodia.
He said the group had begun working on helping the Malaysians as soon as they were informed of the matter by family members.
“We were told that these young Malaysians were placed in private homes as soon as they arrived in Cambodia. After a while, they became a little worried as they had not yet been given the jobs they were promised.
“Then, on Dec 11, they were arrested by Cambodian authorities on charges of being involved in online gaming,” he said.
Sng said they were now being held at a detention centre about 446km from Phnom Penh.
“They have not been produced in court, whether to be charged with any crime, nor even to be remanded. We understand that Cambodian authorities can hold them for up to three years without charge,” he said.
Sng said the Malaysians did not have the means to face the intricacies of the Cambodian bureaucracy and their families were placing their hopes in the Federal government to help get them out.
Sources said Malaysian embassy officers, on hearing about the arrests of the 47, had gone to the detention centre to check on their condition and offer assistance.
One source said this was when the officers learnt what had really happened.
He said checks conducted by the embassy showed that all the Malaysians came from poor families and had put their hopes in getting good paying, legitimate jobs in Cambodia based on what the recruitment agency had told them, so they could help their families.
“We have not ruled out the possibility that they are victims of a syndicate operated by Chinese citizens... the recruitment agency may be a front for human trafficking. Efforts are being made to free the Malaysians and bring them home as soon as possible,” said the source.
The embassy in Cambodia has since briefed the Foreign Ministry, and it is understood that Wisma Putra is working with the Cambodia Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Ministry to settle the matter.