Extortion, human trafficking current crime trends in S’wak, says CID chief

SIBU (Oct 15): Extortion to expose a victim’s indecent photographs and human trafficking are the two current crime trends in Sarawak, says the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief SAC Wong Ing Fung.

In extortion cases, she said the victims would usually be tricked into taking their own indecent photographs, and then forced to send the images to the offender.

“The offender would use the pictures to extort their victims and threaten to expose the indecent images on social media if the victim does not comply with their requests.

“For such cases, we open investigation papers for extortion,” she said during a townhall session entitled ‘Bicara Jenayah: Kesiapsiagaan Mendepani Isu Jenayah’, held at the University of Technology Sarawak (UTS) here yesterday.

Wong was present as one of the panellists for the session, organised by the Sibu District police headquarters, where Sarawak deputy police commissioner Datuk Ibrahim Darus officiated at the event.

On human-trafficking, Wong said there were reported cases where the Sarawak police had to request help from outside parties in their investigation.

“In those cases, it was because the incident did not occur within the state,” she said.

She added that last year, Sarawak police received 18 reports of human-trafficking, involving 52 victims.

This year, 26 reports involving 45 victims had been received as of this month, she said.

“Over the weekend, we received a case from the Sungai Merah police station regarding a victim from Sibu.

“These are cases where the victims are being trafficked into different countries. According to our records, Sarawakians have been trafficked as far as the Republic of Peru in western South America.

“In most cases, the destination offered is Thailand, where the victims are promised job opportunities. The recruiters offer free air tickets to Thailand and also give them money to make passports.

“Moreover, the recruiters offer the unsuspecting victims free accommodation and food provisions. Most of the recruiters are known to victims through their acquaintances,” she said.

Wong said 90 per cent of the victims’ family members lost contact with the victims upon arrival in Bangkok, Thailand.

In Bangkok, another syndicate would take over the trafficking operation, she added.

“When the victims cannot be contacted, we will channel the information to Interpol and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so as to help trace the last known location of the victims.”

She pointed out that the latest case involving Sarawakians was a job opportunity with a so-called air-conditioning service company in Johor, offering a monthly salary between RM2,000 and RM2,500.

Similar to the modus operandi used by recruiters offering job opportunities in Thailand, she said the victims were also offered free air tickets and accommodation in Johor.

“I interviewed three victims. When they arrived in Johor, they were indeed taken to the accommodation provided by the so-called company.

“The victims were then given a dummy offer letter to assist them in opening a bank account in Singapore and Johor to receive their salary. In reality, the syndicate took the victims’ bank accounts and information, as well as their bank cards to utilise for criminal activities.

“The victims who do not cooperate with the syndicate were threatened with the prospect of not returning back to Sarawak.

“This is the latest case, and an arrest has been made by the Johor police,” she said.

The other panellists were Sarawak Narcotics Crime Investigation Department chief ACP Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah; Sarawak Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Supt Maria Rasit; and DSP Alif Charles Belon, who is with the Special Task Force, the National Strategic Office, the Council for Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants.