Seven Filipinas rescued; 2 held

Kota Kinabalu: Police here rescued seven Filipinas believed to be human trafficking victims and arrested a man and a woman, suspected linked to a syndicate, in separate raids, Wednesday. State Criminal Investigation Department Chief SAC Datuk Salehhudin Abd Rahman said the rescued women aged between 15 and 30, had no valid documents.

Six were rescued around 2am at a single-storey terrace house in Jalan Penampang, Lido and one 16-year-old was rescued at a hotel room in Bandaran Berjaya at about 3.30am the same day.

All the victims are currently taking shelter at the Social Welfare Department's Safe House.

The two people, a 30-year-old Filipina, also with no document, and a 24-year-old Filipino who holds a Permanent Resident Card, was arrested when the police team rescued the victims in the first raid.

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He said the duo, believed linked to a syndicate dubbed by police as the "Lady Gaga" group have been remanded until July 7. The case is being probed under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act (ATIPSOM).

Salehhudin said the rescue came after police received information from civilians on suspected human trafficking activities in the city.

"The Criminal Investigation Department in Kota Kinabalu set up a team to investigate the case which led to the raid on a single-storey terrace house at about 2am on Wednesday," he said.

"When the team arrived at the premises, they found the house locked, prompting them to break the grill and the door when their knocks went unanswered.

"Inspections on the premises led to the rescue of the six Filipina, while the two suspected illegal recruiters were found in a separate room," he said, adding that early investigations showed that the man would send the victims to customers.

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Preliminary investigations also showed that three of the victims had been brought to the city two weeks ago, while the rest had been in the city for between eight and 12-months before the rescue.

The first rescue, led the team to a hotel room in Bandaran Berjaya where they rescued a 16-year-old Filipina who also had no documents and is believed to be a victim of the same syndicate.

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