Police have detained two individuals believed to be masterminds of the employment scam which led to 47 Malaysians being held at the Bantey Meanchey provincial prison in Cambodia on Dec 11.

Sarawak Commercial CID chief Supt Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah said the suspects, a man and a woman, both aged 35, were picked up from two separate houses in Traffic Garden and Taman Chung Hua at 5pm yesterday.

“In the raids, police also seized mobile phones, ATM cards well as Mastercard and BigPay cards. Initial screening found the man was positive for methamphetamine,” he said in a statement today.

Both suspects were brought to the station for further investigations under Section 420 of the Penal Code.

Commenting further, he said the remand applications under Section 117 of the Criminal Code Procedure would being made at Kuching Magistrate’s Court if the investigation could not be wrapped up in 24 hours.

So far, 23 victims comprising 18 men and five women had lodged their police reports.

Yesterday, police also obtained the remand order for four days until Feb 28 at the Kuching Magistrate’s for a 35-year-old man in the same case.

All 47 Malaysians involved returned home from Cambodia on Feb 17.

— Bernama