TWELVE Malaysians who were held captive in Cambodia after being duped by a lucrative job offer as customer service officers were safely repatriated today, while four others are still in the country as they have to undergo quarantine after being tested positive for Covid-19.

The success of bringing the 12 men home, who arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2) at 8.10am, was a result of the close cooperation between the Royal Malaysia Police and the Cambodian Police, as well as Interpol, Aseanapol and Wisma Putra.

Foreign Ministry Deputy Secretary-General Amran Mohamed Zin said Cambodian authorities had received information on the involvement of 16 Malaysians in illegal activities in the country and arrested all of them on April 4.

“Even though the Cambodian government found that they (the 16 Malaysians) were carrying out illegal activities in Cambodia, legal action has been set aside for now so that we can bring home our people after having been stranded there,” he told reporters at the airport.

Amran said the Malaysian embassy in Cambodia was monitoring the condition of the remaining four, one of whom a woman, and would arrange for their return as soon as they were cleared of the coronavirus.

Prior to this, Bukit Aman CID director Abd Jalil Hassan was reported as saying that the 16 Malaysians were deceived and forced to work as scammers by a syndicate in Preah Sihanouk which offered lucrative job offers as customer service officers in Cambodia.

He said all were lured by Facebook posts and their travel costs were borne by a company in Cambodia. Their travel documents were seized, movements were controlled and they were kept under tight security as soon as they arrived in the country.

Meanwhile, Heng Zhi Li, the lawyer representing the victims, said they left for Cambodia in stages between September 2021 and February this year.

He said they were promised a salary of RM7,000, but were forced to work as scammers without any salary. He added that were also beaten, slapped and abused with electric shocks.

The victims began contacting MCA in January and the information was then shared with the Council for Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (Mapo) which sought Aseanapol and Interpol assistance to rescue them, he added. – Bernama, April 12, 2022.