Cops crack down on ‘Gang Castelo’ in human smuggling bust

KUALA LUMPUR: The police have busted a syndicate that charged migrants up to RM2,300 each to return to their home country illegally in two recent raids.

Sinar Harian reported that the two raids in Ops Pintas were carried out by the Federal Police Criminal Investigation Department’s Anti-Human Trafficking and Migrants Smuggling Prevention Division (D3).

The coordinated raids conducted in Tanjung Karang and Rawang, Selangor, led to the successful arrest of 64 Indonesians who had various roles in the syndicate known as “Gang Castelo ”.

Bukit Aman D3 Chief Assistant Director, Senior Assistant Commissioner Soffian Santong said that in the first raid at 6pm on Wednesday (Nov 9), a small boat and sampan were successfully intercepted 0.5 nautical miles off the coast of Sungai Bagan Tengkorak, Tanjung Karang, Selangor, with the help of the marine police and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).

He said 36 Indonesian migrants, consisting of 19 men, 14 women and three children aged two to 48, were arrested. Two of the men were suspected to be the skippers.

The second raid was conducted at 6pm on Thursday (Nov 7). The team raided a house in Kundang, Rawang and arrested 26 Indonesians consisting of 20 men, five women and a boy, aged four to 49.

“Further investigation suggests that the two raids involved the same syndicate, believed to have been active for the past six months.

“The detained migrants do not have valid documents and want to leave Malaysia.

“Each migrant is believed to pay RM1,500 to RM2,300 to leave Malaysia, which is paid to an agent in Indonesia,” he said.

In total, 64 Indonesians, including skippers, transporters, and transit house caretakers, were detained in the operations.

He said all those arrested were brought to the Kuala Selangor District Police Headquarters (IPD) and Sungai Buloh IPD, respectively.

He said the case is being investigated under Section 26A of the Atipsom Act 2007, Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63, and Section 15(1)(c) of the same act.