17 women rescued from human traffickers

MELAKA: The police have rescued 17 foreign women, believed to be victims of human trafficking, in an operation at an entertainment centre in Taman Melaka Raya here early today.
The 15 Vietnamese and two China nationals were working as guest relations officers (GROs) when a police team raided the double-storey building at 2.15am.
The GROs, aged between 19 and 36, were taken to the Melaka Tengah police headquarters to facilitate investigations.
Bukit Aman Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants unit head, DSP Kamal Khan Mohd Shariff said the women were entertaining 28 patrons at the time of the raid.
He said a 34-year-old local woman, believed to be a pimp, was nabbed on the first floor.
"The woman had a bag containing RM12,080 and sales receipts for suspected prostitution activities," he told reporters here.
Also picked up to shed light on the activities were six workers including a male China national and a Bangladeshi. – Bernama