Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (DT/AFP) – Malaysian authorities have rescued hundreds of children from care homes where they were allegedly physically and sexually abused and have arrested scores of people in large scale raids, police said Wednesday.
Police inspector-general Razarudin Husain said 402 children, aged between one and 17, were rescued during raids at various charity homes in the states of Selangor and Negri Sembilan on Wednesday.
The morning raids involved almost 1,000 personnel from police and other agencies.
That led to some 170 arrests, including Islamic religious teachers and caretakers at the welfare homes, he added.
Initial investigations revealed that the victims were sexually abused by their caretakers and forced to abuse other children, Razarudin told a news conference in Pahang state.
“Those who were sick were not allowed to seek medical attention until their condition became critical,” he said. Some young children were also burned with a hot spoon when they made mistakes, and caretakers had touched the children’s bodies as if to conduct medical checks, he said.
He said the children would be temporarily housed at a police training centre in the capital Kuala Lumpur and would undergo health checks.
Police believed that GISB, which operates in a number of countries, including Indonesia, Singapore, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and France, exploited the children and used religious sentiments to collect donations, said Razarudin.
The case is being investigated under laws covering sexual offences against children and human trafficking.
Two of the premises raided were registered with the state government as Islamic schools, JAIS said in a statement on Thursday.
The department had monitored the schools as recently as July but found no offences had been committed. It said it would investigate further and take appropriate action should any violations be found.
A GISB spokesperson said on Thursday that the group will cooperate with authorities.
GISB has been linked to the now-defunct Malaysia-based Al-Arqam religious sect, which was banned by the government in 1994. On its website, the company says that its aim is “to develop the Islamic way of life”.
Robert Gass, a representative in Malaysia for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said on Thursday that the organisation was “deeply shocked and appalled” by the alleged abuse and called for long-term professional medical and psychosocial support for the children.
Source: DT and news agencies