Six rescued job scam victims return home

SEPANG: Job scam syndicate victim Muhd Farhan Azman, who was battered and starved as a prisoner in the KK Garden compound in Myanmar, prostrated himself in gratitude when he arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport arrival hall here on Wednesday (Dec 21).

The 19-year-old was one of six people rescued with the aid of Teruntum assemblyman Sim Chon Siang.

Muhd Farhan was saved along with Muhammad Redzuan Arif Rashidi, 21; Yong Ying Yien, 30; Felix Lim, 25; Wong Chee Hoon, 27; and Lim Han Hsin, 28.

Muhd Farhan's mother Zahiriah Abdul Rasid, 45, said for the past four months, she had not been able to sleep and would cry when she thought of her second child.

She said he had obtained a housekeeping job in Singapore before being transferred to Thailand by his employer.

From there, Muhd Farhan was smuggled to Myanmar where was forced to work in a call centre as a scammer.

Zahiriah said her son was beaten and starved if he did not meet his target of RM30,000 in scams.

"My son contacted me when he was in Myanmar because scammers had asked for a ransom of RM15,000.

"We were in contact and I knew that he was being tortured and starved," she said.

Meanwhile, Sim said there are about 1,000 Malaysians still trapped in the KK Garden compound, which is surrounded by 4m-high walls and barbed wire.

He said among the torture methods were forcing victims to carry 20 litres of water up and down two flights of stairs, water torture, beatings with plastic pipes, and being tied to their bunk beds for over a month if they attempted to run away.

He said besides being forced to work for over 15 hours a day, victims would have their organs harvested if they were unable to work.

Sim received assistance from the Malaysian and Thai police, the Malaysian Embassy and Victor Wong, a Malaysian in Thailand, in the rescue.