Police identify suspects exploiting children to beg for cash

SHAH ALAM: Police have identified the members of a syndicate that exploits and abuses children to beg for cash.
"Those responsible will be brought to task. We have also notified family members of the victims," Selangor CID chief SAC Fadzil Ahmat (pix) at a press conference at the Selangor police headquarters today.
"We are in the process of collecting statements from them," he added.
Fadzil said that a remand extension has been applied for the four suspects arrested so far.
The matter came to light after a 21-year-old victim tried to escape from the syndicate by attempting to jump out from an apartment window at Bandar Mahkota, Cheras in Selangor, on April 4.
He was eventually rescued and told authorities he and 18 others were victims of a syndicate which brought them to the Klang Valley from an orphanage in Penang to beg for money.
Police subsequently raided the apartment on April 6 and rescued 18 victims, aged 17 to 28, among whom were four women.
Three men and a woman, believed to be syndicate members, were also detained to facilitate investigations under the Anti-Human Trafficking Act 2007.