KUALA LUMPUR – A number of the 402 child victims rescued from welfare homes linked with Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings Sdn Bhd (GISB Holdings) were subjected to physical and emotional abuse, confirmed Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain.
This was uncovered during the Health Ministry’s screening process on 392 of the victims, consisting of 202 boys and 190 girls, who will be undergoing further assessment, particularly on their emotional health.
The remaining 10 victims are persons with disabilities under the Social Welfare Department’s care.
“From the screening, we found that there were physical crimes (committed against the children) involving the victims being beaten, whipped and having their chests pressed, as evidenced by viral videos on social media.
“Additionally, there are elements of child grooming in the way (the victims) were raised, as well as child labour and exploitation,” Razarudin told a press conference at the Police Training Centre (Pulapol) here today.
Other signs of abuse uncovered were child abandonment and malnourishment.
None of the female victims screened thus far were found to have suffered sexual assaults, Razarudin added.
A total of 149 victims aged between one to 10 have been moved to four undisclosed safe locations while the remaining 243 victims will continue staying in Pulapol for the time being before they are moved to temporary welfare homes in stages, Razarudin said.
“We have identified most of (the victims’) parents, but we have not called them up yet as many of them have not come forward to claim their children. A majority of the victims are GISB Holdings’ members’ children, it’s possible that their parents are not aware that they were rescued.
“It’s also possible that they do not want to come forward to claim their children as GISB Holdings said that the children were orphans.” Razarudin said, noting that it is possible that some of the parents’ marriages were not registered.
Previously, Razarudin said that 13 children at shelter homes raided by the police in a major operation dubbed Ops Global last Wednesday are suspected to have been sodomised.
He disclosed today that only two of the 20 shelters housing the children were registered.
Suspect arrested during raids admits to child abuse
Meanwhile, Razarudin also said that a man, who happened to be one of the suspects arrested by police during the September 11 raids, had admitted to assaulting a boy at one of the raided welfare homes linked with GISB Holdings.
Razarudin said that the man had confessed to abusing the boy. This comes after a video of a boy crying in pain while a man berated him made the rounds on social media last night.
“Police are now working on identifying the victim (in the video). The child could be one of those we rescued or he could still be out there (as) the victims did not only stay in one (care centre). They were moved around.”
The man was among the 171 individuals police had arrested during its raids on 20 welfare homes in Selangor and Negri Sembilan, with those detained including hostel wardens and teaching staff.
Razarudin also said that police will submit three investigation papers opened in Negeri Sembilan to the Attorney-General’s Chambers today for further action.
Two of the papers, he said, relate to investigations under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 on physical sexual assault on a child while the third paper involves probes under Section 354 of the Penal Code on assault with the intention to outrage a person’s modesty.
While authorities had linked its investigations to GISB Holdings, the company had since denied operating the raided welfare homes, after also denying any involvement in exploitative child labour. – September 17, 2024