Rohingya ransom racket

WHILE most Rohingya asylum-seekers in Malaysia are bona fide, some have taken to crime, including kidnapping for ransom. At times, the targets are their own Myanmar countrymen, as CHARLES RAMENDRAN found out after an exclusive interview with one of the victims.
KUALA LUMPUR: When Myanmar refugee Hung Za (not his real name) stepped out for lunch on Aug 20, little did he know that his life would later literally be hanging by a rope.
The lean and small-built foreigner was snatched by a group of kidnappers, comprising his own countrymen.
Relating the incident to theSun, the 26-year-old United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) status holder, who arrived here a decade ago and speaks fluent Bahasa Malaysia, was heading to a restaurant in Jalan Tun Tan Siew Sin at about 1pm when two men grabbed him and pushed him into a car.
"There were two others, the driver and another passenger in the car. I was stunned but I struggled to escape. Then I felt a strong electric shock running through my whole body. I tried to shout for help but my voice froze. They were using a stun gun and used it over and over again until I turned numb. Then they tied my hands, blindfolded me and drove around for hours while punching and kicking me repeatedly. As they spoke in our Myanmar language, I knew they were Rohingyas," said the soft-spoken Myanmar, who is a Christian and lay leader of a Myanmar church in Pudu.
After nightfall, the men met another accomplice. Hung Za was moved into another car and taken to a wooden house where his blindfold was removed and he was beaten up again.
He was then bundled into a third car and taken to another location where his ordeal got worse. He was led into a dimly-lit room and this was where Hung Za felt he was going to die.
"I could barely walk and my face was badly swollen. I believe it was a factory and the kidnappers probably worked there as they could access the place. I was shocked when I saw another two Myanmar men who were blindfolded and had their limbs bound. They were also badly beaten and bleeding. I was taken into a room where they kicked me to the ground and pushed a face towel into my mouth until I felt it lodging in my throat. Then one of them put a noose around my neck.
He flung the other end of the rope over a beam in the ceiling and pulled on it very hard. My body was tugged upright. I was choking and I thought it was the end. Then he eased the rope and I fell to the ground. He repeated this many times over the next few hours. They were high on drugs and they never slept a wink throughout. They looked scary and moved around like zombies," said Hung Za, who works in a restaurant.
As the torture continued, an assailant called the victim's cousin, also a UNHCR refugee here, and demanded a ransom of RM10,000.
Several calls were made and each time the men would assault him to have his cousin hear his cries. It was close to midnight but his cousin telephoned several church members and related what had happened. About 20 friends chipped in and the ransom was raised within an hour.
They were then told to leave the cash at a given location. However, Hung Za's cousin went with a few friends. The kidnappers, who watched from afar, played it safe and kept away. For that, Hung Za suffered more beatings.
The men told him that they were sparing his life because of his ethnicity. They showed him a blood-soaked bedsheet, claiming they had killed the two other victims Hung Za had seen earlier.
"We slit their throats and cut up their bodies. This is what we do for a living. You are lucky you are a Chin and not a Rakhine Buddhist (or else) we would have killed you like the other two. You should know we Rohingyas love eating human flesh," said an assailant.
Hung Za said he never saw the other two Myanmar victims again.
The next morning, the victim's cousin was told to deposit the cash into a bank account, after which Hung Za was released in the city.
The victim was so traumatised that he remained in his room for three days before seeking treatment. At the hospital, police learned of Hung Za's case and promptly recorded his statement.
"I was in immense pain. My jaw and face were so swollen that I could not even talk properly. I was just too scared to go out. The assailants seemed to know everything about us and our movements. They forced me to reveal my address and other personal details at knife-point and warned me they would return to kill me if I reported this to the police," he said.
It took hours of persuasion and reassurance by a Malaysian friend before he agreed to seek medical treatment at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital, where he was warded for his injuries and discharged a day later.
Five arrested
Within a day after recording Hung Za's statement, a police team led by Dang Wangi district CID chief DSP M. Gunalan swung into action, arresting a 22-year-old female suspect in Penang.
It was the bank account of this Malaysian woman that the suspects had used for the ransom payout.
She led police to the arrest of three main suspects.
They were all picked up in Selayang and several other locations in the city.
Police also arrested the Myanmar wife of one of the suspects in Penang.
It is learnt that one of the male suspects nabbed was allegedly behind at least two murder cases that occurred in Selayang a few months ago.
However, the Myanmar who was armed with a stun gun during the abduction remains at large.
Dang Wangi acting police chief ACP Rasdi Ramli said the suspects are under a remand order for investigations.
"We are tracking down the last suspect and hope to capture him soon," he said.
Investigators believe the gang was involved in more than a dozen cases of crimes on foreigners but many may have gone unreported.