SEPANG: Many stories of torture, hunger and being human trafficking victims told by some Malaysians are just that – stories, Cambodian authorities have told their Malaysian counterparts.
Most of the stories reported in the media revolved around being made to work for scammers after they were lured to Cambodia and nearby countries by promises of high pay.
The Cambodian authorities claimed that their investigations revealed many alleged Malaysian victims had merely made up these stories to “avoid being treated like criminals”.
They also claimed they had discovered that some of these Malaysians had accumulated huge gambling debts at casinos there, while others could not pay back the money they owed loan sharks.
These were among the findings conveyed to Malaysian police from their counterparts in Cambodia following a trip there with representatives of the Foreign Ministry from Jan 24-27.
Bukit Aman CID director Comm Datuk Seri Abd Jalil Hassan said the Cambodian authorities were upset with how some of the local media had portrayed the stories of these Malaysians in their country.
“At our discussions with the Cambodian authorities, they told us that their probe had revealed that many of these individuals were not victims of human trafficking but made up these stories so that they could be ‘rescued’,” he told reporters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) upon his…
