C
Cao Pi
Guest
Saturday November 13, 2010
Women in vice keep mum to protect their family members
By MUGUNTAN VANAR
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KOTA KINABALU: Many foreign women forced into vice are reluctant to cooperate with police for fear their families back home will be harmed by the syndicates that brought them to Malaysia. Outgoing Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Noor Rashid Ibrahim said victims picked up in anti-vice raids were generally reluctant to divulge details of people involved in the trade for fear of reprisal against family members.
“Our problem is that the victims are mainly foreigners. We ask them why they are hesitant to cooperate with the police to catch the culprits and they say they are afraid. “They ask us (the police) if we can assure them that their families back home will not be harmed,” he said, adding that he could not give such a guarantee.
Rashid, who has been promoted to director of the Narcotics Department, told reporters here yesterday that the victims were recruited in their hometowns in the Philippines and Indonesia with promises of good paying jobs in Malaysia. “The victims are from poor families and their trip here is paid for by the syndicates. However, on arrival here, the syndicates tell them that the promised jobs have been taken up.
“They give (the victims) a choice of how they want to pay off their debts to return home. Many are forced into vice,” said Rashid, adding that the women were mostly under the tight control of the syndicates. He said Sabah police had arrested 13 pimps so far this year in a crackdown against human trafficking. “We have charged them and some have been sentenced accordingly,” he said. Sarawak Deputy Police Commissioner Datuk Hamzah Taib succeeds Rashid as Sabah police chief.
