Australian among four women, three children of GISB board member arrested in ongoing investigation

SHAH ALAM: Four women, including a woman from Australia, and three children of a member of the board of directors of Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISB) have been remanded in custody for seven days to assist in the investigation into child trafficking allegations and exploitation.

Deputy Registrar Muhammad Firdaus Abdul Rashid granted the remand order when the seven were produced before the magistrate here this morning.

Lawyer Rosli Kamaruddin said those remanded should facilitate investigations into the case involving six women and one man between the ages of 18 and 55.

“They were all arrested by police in Rawang last night, including the five wives of the board member.

“They will be held for seven days from today until October 4,” he told reporters.

The case is being investigated under section 31(a) of the Child Act 2001 and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smoggling of Migrants Act 2022.

Earlier, all seven people arrived around 9:30 am in a police van, closely guarded by police officers from the Criminal Investigation Department.

They were taken to the police headquarters detention center in Shah Alam district.

Meanwhile, the remand of ten people previously arrested in connection with the case has been extended at the same court.

Muhammad Firdaus granted house arrest orders ranging from four to seven days for eight men and two women between the ages of 22 and 53.

Lawyer Shalehuddin Salam said the remand of the ten people was extended after their first remand order ended today.

Earlier this month, police rescued 402 people, some as young as one year old, from GISB-linked care homes who had suffered various forms of exploitation and abuse, including sodomization.

GISB has since denied the allegations of child exploitation and sexual abuse.

On September 23, Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said that another 187 victims were rescued during phase four of Op Global, including 100 men and 87 women.

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