5 Vietnamese women rescued from forced prostitution in Malaysia
Police said they were trafficking victims and had been forced to work as prostitutes in Malacca for 10 months.
Police in Malaysia’s tourist town of Malacca rescued five Vietnamese women on Tuesday following a raid on a prostitution den.
Kamaluddin Kassim, chief assistant commissioner of the Malacca Criminal Investigations Department, told the News Strait Times that they had found the five Vietnamese women along with three Thai women who had been used as prostitutes at the brothel for the past 10 months.
The raid was conducted following two weeks of surveillance at the premises. A 64-year-old caretaker was also detained.
Kamaluddin said the women will be sent to a detention center before referring them to Immigration Department officials who will help them return home.
The number of Vietnamese trafficking victims surged a staggering 13% in 2016 to 1,128, according to police reports.
Most were sold to men seeking wives in China, Malaysia and South Korea, or just to bear children or work as prostitutes in those countries.
According to the United Nations, a third of trafficked women and children are from Southeast Asia.
