Officers rescue 19 children from Alor Gajah house, arrest five adults during raids on Global Ikhwan properties in Melaka

MELAKA, Sept 21 — Police rescued a total of 24 people, 19 of whom were minors, from a house in Kuala Sungai Baru, Alor Gajah here as part of a large-scale statewide raid on Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISBH), a local company suspected of criminal activities including child sexual exploitation and human trafficking.

Five adults, two men and three women, were arrested at the house said to be owned by a GISBH member, Utusan Malaysia reported.

According to the newspaper, police and other government agencies searched 14 other buildings, including a bakery, a restaurant, a curtain shop, a supermarket, a food processing plant and an office.

Most of the properties were reportedly empty, including two houses in Krubong that were being used as a charity.

Utusan Malaysia reported that the raids were jointly carried out by the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Islamic Religious Affairs of Melaka, the Ministry of National Registration and the Ministry of Public Works.

GISBH has been linked to the former Islamist group Al Arqam, which was described as a deviant movement and banned in the 1980s.

The company came under the spotlight earlier this month after Bukit Aman announced a large-scale raid on 20 charities linked to GISBH in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan, rescuing more than 400 underage residents from suspected sexual abuse.

About 200 people between the ages of 17 and 64 were also reportedly arrested at the time.

Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain later revealed that a number of individuals associated with the company are suspected of involvement in various criminal activities, including sexual abuse of minors, giving instructions on how to do the same to other children, human trafficking and criminal intimidation.

Immediately following the police revelations, GISBH executive chairman and CEO Datuk Nasiruddin Mohd Ali admitted on September 14 that he had committed sodomy, but downplayed the number to “one or two” incidents.

Perlis was the first state to issue a fatwa on GISBH after the business group was labelled as deviant.