Malaysian police rescued 402 children from 18 religious care homes before arresting 171 suspects following disturbing claims that the minors were tortured and raped as part of religious treatment.
Police raids on Wednesday across the homes in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan states uncovered that some of the victims – aged between one to 17 – were allegedly forced to perform sex acts on each other while others were punished with hot spoons, Police Inspector-General Razarudin Husain said at a press conference.
In his harrowing statement, Razarudin told reporters that some of the suspects – aged between 17 to 64 – would allegedly touch the minors, claiming it was part of religious treatment.
The children were also ‘punished using heated metal objects’ and those who fell ill within the homes were banned from seeking medical treatment until their condition turned critical.
‘There were a few children, aged five years old, who were burnt with a hot spoon when they made a mistake. The caretakers also touched the children’s bodies as if to conduct ‘medical checks’, he said.
Police raids on Wednesday across 18 religious care homes in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan states led to the rescue of 402 children
Many of the children were not orphans but were sent to the homes by their parents for religious education
‘Child victims and religious sentiments were used to gather sympathy and funds from the outside,’ he said.
Following the rescue, the children have been temporarily housed at a police centre in Kuala Lumpur and will undergo vital health checks in a process that will take around two weeks.
Preliminary investigations also revealed that many of the minors were not orphans, but were placed in the care homes by their parents so they could undergo religious education, reports Malaysian newspaper The Star.
The care homes are allegedly linked to a prominent Islamic conglomerate – the Islamic Global Ikhwan Group (GISB) – which has issued a statement denying any wrongdoing.
The raids were prompted by reports that surfaced earlier this month of child exploitation, molestation and sexual abuse at another care facility in Port Dickson.
‘Based on that the police opened eight investigation papers; four in Selangor and four in Negri Sembilan,’ Razarudin said.
The Port Dickson case that led to Wednesday’s large-scale operation saw six arrests – with the suspects aged between 20 and 40.
Police then quickly opened an investigation into the GISB over the child exploitation claims and have since confirmed that the two cases are linked.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said their findings have revealed GISB’s entire operation is based on setting up care homes in order to collect donations.
The group denied the allegations on Wednesday and vowed to cooperate with authorities during their investigation.
Taking to Facebook, it said: ‘Our stance is very clear: we are committed to always adhering to the law and supporting the government’s aspirations in developing the country.
‘The company will not compromise with any activity that goes against the law, particularly regarding the exploitation of children’.
Global Ikhwan’s website said it is involved in a wide range of businesses including food and beverage, media, medical, travel and property.
It employs more than 5,000 people and has branches in 20 countries including a chain of restaurants in London, Paris, Australia and Dubai among others.
Following the horror incident, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia has called for stricter regulations in care homes.
‘The problem is that these places are not properly regulated or supervised,’ children’s commissioner Farah Nini Dusuki told Free Malaysia Today.
‘We have a serious issue with monitoring and supervision, which is why we need the community to be more alert,’ she said.
Out of the 402 children that were rescued, 201 were girls and 201 were boys.
Razarudin said a teacher and dorm caretakers made up some of the suspects who were arrested.
