PUTRAJAYA: The Immigration raids on a prostitution ring in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah since last Friday have so far brought to the discovery of RM14.95 million cash, said its director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali.
Mustafar said the arrest of a 46-year-old local woman at a house in Jalan Kompleks Api-Api around noon on Tuesday found another RM1.45 million in cash, after RM13.5 million was seized last Friday when the department arrested 17 individuals at a hotel and at an apartment in connection with the case.
The woman nabbed is believed to be the wife of one of the syndicate’s masterminds.
“The money in RM100 and RM50 notes was kept in a locked safe using a certain number combination as a security measure for the owner,” he told reporters after attending the Home Ministry’s monthly assembly, here yesterday.
He said so far, four of the syndicate’s masterminds had been arrested since the raids under ‘Op Gegar’ were conducted that led to the discovery of the millions of ringgit which shocked the public in the East Malaysian city.
According to him, the RM14.95 million was the biggest seizure of cash in the Immigration Department’s history.
Mustafar said the investigation conducted found that the hotel which was raided last Friday had been operating since 1999, with the syndicate using the modus operandi of running a spa business to hide the prostitution ring.
He said although a spa business did not come under the jurisdiction of the Immigration Department, the department with the cooperation of other enforcement agencies needed to act as the prostitution ring was using foreign migrants as workers.
“Besides collaborating with the police and local authority, we are also sharing information with the Inland Revenue Board and Companies Commission of Malaysia on the discovery of the money for further investigation towards solving the case,” he said. — Bernama