Six alleged Lankan sex workers detained in Malaysia

The Johor police in Malaysia have conducted 10,300 raids to tackle prostitution in the state and arrested 2,986 women including six Sri Lankan from January until now.

Johor police Chief Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff said local and foreign women were detained in these raids for suspected involvement in such activities.

"Of that number, 102 were locals while the rest were made up of 627 Chinese nationals, Vietnam (1,341), Thailand (555), Indonesia (229), Cambodia (13), Philippines (62), Myanmar (16), Singapore (1), Laos (4), Sri Lanka (6), India (29) and Venezuela (1)," he told reporters after officiating the Johor Contingent Crime Awareness Day programme at Plaza Angsana in Johor.

Mohd Mokhtar said in the latest incident, the Johor Contingent Police Headquarters Vice, Gambling and Secret Societies (D7) division arrested 55 women from Vietnam and China, aged between 19 and 50, in raids at two premises in Stulang Laut on Saturday night.

He said the raid which began at 8.45pm until 1am involved six officers and 21 policemen after police received a complaint from the public regarding immoral activities in the area.

"In the raid, one of the women fractured her leg after she jumped from the fourth floor in attempt to flee, while another woman bit a policeman to avoid being arrested," he said, adding some of the women possessed valid travel documents but had abused them.

Therefore, Mohd Mokhtar said the police will intensify an operation which includes working with various enforcement agencies to curb the activities.(Bernama)