Rescue of 20 Pinays from sex trafficking uncovers $3M in cash in Malaysia


Twenty Filipino women were rescued by immigration officers from a prostitution syndicate at a hotel in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, where RM13 million (US$3.121 million) in cash was also recovered.
Immigration officers acted on a tip that three Filipino women were held by a syndicate at a hotel, according to a report by The Straits Times.
Officers found the three women in the hotel spa and rescued 17 other Filipinos from separate rooms when they initiated the raid. All women were aged between their late teens to their early 30's.
The cash was discovered while searching for the women: RM11.9 million was found in different rooms around the hotel while RM1.17 million was recovered at a neighboring apartment.
Immigration Director-General Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said the cash were either stuffed in envelopes and plastic bags or left in the open.
A Filipino and two Malaysians aged between 30 and 50 were arrested on suspicion of being middlemen for the syndicate.
Mustafar said the case is being investigated under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti Smuggling Act. —Rie Takumi/KG, GMA News

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