Embassy Working With Thai Police To Track Down Prostitution Syndicate

By Mohamad Azim Fitri Abd Aziz KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Embassy in Bangkok is working with the Thai police to track down the prostitution syndicate involved in the kidnapping of a Malaysian girl, Malaysian Ambassador to Thailand Nazirah Hussain said. "What they did to our citizen is cruel, even more so when the victim is a minor," she told Bernama when contacted. "How did they managed to bring a teenager past the international border? We need to investigate this," she said. Bernama contacted her for a comment in the wake of the rescue of a Malaysian girl, 14, by the Thai police at Hua Lampong Railway Station in Bangkok after escaping from an international prostitution syndicate. The girl, who went missing in Section 8 Shah Alam on Jan 30, was rescued at the railway station on March 11 along with five Myanmar citizens. Nazirah said this was the first kidnapping case she had come across since assuming her duties as the Malaysian ambassador to the kingdom eight months ago. She said the embassy constantly monitored Malaysians in Thailand to prevent them from becoming victims of prostitution syndicates. Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur Social Development, Crime Prevention and Anti-Drug Voluntary Organisation president, Jeevan S. Ramamurthy said that integrated enforcement especially at the border should be intensified so that abduction cases involving Malaysians could be eradicated. He said enforcement should be carried out in an integrated manner by agencies such as the police, Customs Department, armed forces and the Immigration Department to tackle trans-boundary criminal activities. "Parents should also play their role by monitoring the safety of their children, who their friends are and so on, because they might be lured by syndicates offering a lucrative job offer without realising that this was a trap for them to become prostitutes," he said. -- BERNAMA