12 suspects held in gang-rape case

KOTA BARU: Police investigators discovered that the 15-year-old girl who was gang-raped by almost 40 men last week was not the only one sexually assaulted in a hut at a village in Ketereh.
Her friend, a school dropout also aged 15 who had allegedly lured the girl to the hut known to be a drug addicts' haunt, was also raped by the men.
Kota Baru police chief ACP Azham Othman said today that police have arrested 12 suspects including a teenage girl.
He said the 11 male suspects who were picked up at their homes following a report lodged by a girl on Monday are in their 20s and 30s.
He said the teenage girl was arrested as she is believed to have hatched the plan to lure her friend to the hut although the suspect also unwittingly ended up as a victim.
Azham said the dropout is yet to lodge a police report against the men.
"We have been hunting down the suspects since the report was lodged and hope to round up all those involved soon. We have caught 12 for now. Most of them are general workers who frequented the hut for their drug fix," he told theSun.
Investigators learnt that the school dropout who lives in Ketereh had asked the Form Three student who hails from Kuala Krai to visit her on May 20.
The girl then sought the help of her male friend in his late teens for a ride to Ketereh on his motorcycle.
Police said they both took the 45-minute ride to the town and met up with the girl's friend at the hut. Minutes later, several men showed up and forcefully started making advances on the girls.
They also restrained the girl's male friend from leaving, ordering him to stay calm and watch them rape both girls.
It is learnt that after a dozen men forced themselves on them, both girls passed out but the sexual assault continued as more men arrived.
When their ordeal was over hours later, the men left. After the girls regained consciousness, their male friend related what had happened to them.
Investigators who interviewed the victim's male friend who witnessed the assault learnt that almost 40 men were involved in the gang-rape.