Woman tortured, electrocuted in Cambodia rescued, returns to Malaysia tomorrow

A LOCAL woman who was the victim of a human trafficking syndicate in Cambodia and tortured with electric shocks to obtain a ransom of RM120,000 has been rescued.

Malaysia Humanitarian Organisation (MHO) Secretary-General Datuk Hishamuddin Hashim said the 33-year-old victim, known as Ong, had previously worked in the office of a logistics factory owned by a Chinese employer in Port Klang, Selangor for more than a year.

According to him, the victim was informed that the company would close and move to China due to financial problems and was instructed to transit through Cambodia before going there, but instead was sold to a human trafficking syndicate in the country.

"The victim was sold to the syndicate on September 1 and tortured with electric shocks every day. The 'Task Force' and Cambodian police raided the location twice, but failed to rescue her.

"The syndicate claimed that the victim was in debt, but that was not true. They forced the victim to sign false debt documents as an excuse to detain and torture her," he told Berita Harian today.

Hishamuddin said the victim's family initially intended to pay the ransom after losing hope of help from the Cambodian authorities.

However, he said, MHO advised the family to wait a little longer as they were formulating a strategy to rescue the victim without paying the ransom.

"We managed to contact the victim and guide her on how to escape from the syndicate's detention centre.

"The MHO team then sent a representative to pick her up. Alhamdulillah, the effort was successful," he said.

He said the victim was expected to arrive at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) at 6pm tomorrow

Commenting on further action, Hishamuddin explained that the matter had been handed over entirely to the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM).

"The victim may be detained for investigation if necessary, but if there is no need, she can return to her family.

"The risk of the syndicate retracing the victim is indeed there, but based on our experience, if they know the victim is now under MHO protection, they will not dare to do so," he said. - October 23, 2025