Published: Monday December 30, 2013 MYT 4:33:00 PM
Updated: Monday December 30, 2013 MYT 4:34:43 PM
Foreign women lured with promise of jobs in reflexology centers; forced into sex
BY NICHOLAS CHENG
KUALA LUMPUR: The women came to Malaysia looking forward to jobs and a better life but instead were forced into sex.
Last Thursday, after six months, they were rescued in a raid by a team of Bukit Aman D7 (Secret Societies, Vice and Gambling Division) officers on three reflexology centres in Setapak, where they had been cooped up in makeshift rooms at the back.
The 35 women - 10 Chinese nationals, 10 Filipinas, 12 Thai nationals and three Vietnamese - were forced to live in unsanitary conditions.
The women claimed that they had been offered jobs as professional masseurs but were forced by their employers to have sex with customers.
They also alleged that the employers took their passports and other important documents.
A source said the women appeared to be healthy with no signs of physical abuse but were deficient in Vitamin D due to a lack of exposure to sunlight for a long period of time.
“They (employers) often threatened the women by saying that they wouldn’t get back their passports if they tried to leave and that they would be arrested since they didn’t have their documents.
“Some women were even imposed a bondage debt of RM5,000 to RM13,000 and only allowed to leave once they had paid it all off,” said Bukit Aman D7 chief Senior Asst Comm Roslee Chik.
The 20-man operation at 8pm also saw the arrest of five men - four locals and one Myanmar national - as well as a Filipina, who operated the reflexology centres.
SAC Roslee said the centres did not have licences.
“Their modus operandi was to recruit the foreigners by tricking them with job offers here. Then, they would confine the women and take away their documents before forcing them to have sex,” he said, adding that customers were charged between RM100 and RM200 for sex.
Police also confiscated RM3,720 in cash, packets of condoms, logbooks and the women’s passports during the raid.
