JOHOR BARU: A syndicate has been raking in an average of RM16,000 a month from public donations by exploiting physically disabled (OKU) foreigners.
It is learnt that the syndicate went to China to find wheelchair-bound victims who lived in poverty and offer them to work as beggars around here.
The syndicate also paid for everything, including their passports and air tickets to Malaysia, where they entered the country through a legal channel.
Johor police chief Comm M. Kumar said the police received public information about the syndicate's illegal activity in April, when the police carried out intelligence gathering.
“Based on human smuggling activity, police carried out a series of raids around Johor Baru on June 13 between 8.30pm and 10.30pm, which led to the arrest of two local suspects, including a female aged 42 to 53.
“During the raids, police also rescued two physically handicapped male foreigners, aged 44 to 50, where they have become human smuggling victims,” he added.
Comm Kumar said this at a press conference held at Johor police headquarters on Tuesday (July 9).
He added that following the two earlier arrests, police then carried out a fourth raid at an apartment within the city area here on June 19 at 11.45pm and arrested a 42-year-old local man.
“The third suspect worked as the guardian or manager to the two foreign OKUs while the other two local suspects were their transporter, driving them to public areas such as morning and night markets as well as food courts to beg for donations,” he said.
Comm Kumar added that the syndicate put the two OKUs in a rented house here, but they were not allowed to go out or even communicate with their immediate neighbours.
He said the two victims were only allowed to go out to beg for money for about six hours per day per month.
“The syndicate has set a target for the two victims, and they must collect between RM250 and RM300 in public donations per day.
“The syndicate has taken advantage of kind-hearted Malaysians who donated to the two OKUs. Each of the two victims collected at least RM8,000 respectively for one month of begging.
“The money that they collected will then be given to the guardian, who then pays the two transporters, while the two OKUs would only get RM300 each,” he said, adding that the two transporters were paid RM10 per hour.
Comm Kumar said that the two OKUs were currently being placed at a protection house. The police have contacted their embassy, which is in the process of bringing them back to their country.
“The guardian has since been charged at Sessions Court under Section 14 of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants (Atipsom) Act 2007 (Act 670) while arrest warrants have been issued to the other two suspects who failed to show up at court,” he added.
