PERLIS Social Welfare Department is still assessing the police and medical reports on three brothers found chained next to a bridge in Kangar yesterday, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Nancy Shukri said.

The minister added that the department will act only when it has all the information it requires.

She said, as of this afternoon, the brothers were receiving treatment at Tuanku Fauziah Hospital.

“The results of the reports will determine whether the victims need to be placed in a shelter, because in this case, they still have a mother,” she said in Kuching today.

According to Nancy, department officers in the area immediately took the three boys to hospital when the case came to light.

Yesterday, media reports stated the three brothers were found in a weakened state by villagers, with two of the boys still chained by the side of a bridge on Jalan Kampung Tambun Tulang, Simpang Empat.

Kangar police chief Yusharifuddin Mohd Yusop said the boys were aged 13 to 16, of which two had hearing problems.

The police have since arrested a 46-year-old woman, believed to be the boys’ mother, and a 31-year-old man to help with investigations. – Bernama, March 26, 2023.