Sandakan man trapped by Cambodia scam syndicate; Family pleads for rescue
Jerry (second from left) and the family show a video call with the victim, who remains captive in Cambodia.
KOTA KINABALU (May 27): Two siblings are pleading with authorities to help rescue their younger brother, who has fallen victim to an international kidnapping syndicate operating in Cambodia.
The family, who wish to be identified only as the Hao family from Sandakan, revealed that their 23-year-old brother is currently being held by the syndicate at an undisclosed location in Cambodia.
'Our brother had been working in Kuala Lumpur for some time. He left for Cambodia on February 10 without informing us. We only found out about his situation a week ago when his employer in Kuala Lumpur reached out,' said the 28-year-old sister when met at the Malaysian Humanitarian International Organisation (MHO) office in Asia City on Tuesday.
Upon learning the news, the sister checked her brother's iPad, which he had left at home. The device, linked to his iPhone, showed travel details and photos indicating he boarded a flight to Cambodia at 6am on February 10.
'We believe he left with an agent, along with nine other Malaysians,' she said.
The family still does not know what type of job their brother had been promised that lured him overseas.
Upon arrival in Cambodia, he and others were confined in an apartment and forced to work as scammers.
'He eventually managed to contact someone he trusted and paid them to inform the Cambodian authorities, but the syndicate found out. They beat him and others who tried to escape and forced them to sign new contracts and record staged videos claiming they were safe and free,' she added.
The victim, now forced to work under the syndicate, was given a phone through which he secretly contacts his family using Telegram — an app commonly used by such syndicates.
'He tries not to show his fear, but we know he's terrified. We just want him home safely,' his sister said.
Meanwhile, MHO operational officer Captain (R) Jerry Jaimeh stated that their team in Cambodia, led by Azirul Shafiq, is actively working to locate and rescue the victims.
'A rescue operation is still feasible as they remain within Cambodian borders,' said Jerry, adding that most victims are young Malaysians from rural areas aged between 18 and 25.
He urged the public to be cautious about overseas job offers to avoid falling prey to similar scams.
In March, this year, MHO rescued a young man from Keningau who was a victim of a job scam syndicate in Cambodia.
MHO received a report from the victim's family on March 25 and immediately launched a rescue mission.
They coordinated with the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the family to facilitate his release.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
3 hours ago
- The Star
Analysis-Satellite imagery shows Ukraine attack destroyed and damaged Russian bombers
(Reuters) -Satellite imagery of a Russian air base taken shortly after Ukraine carried out a drone attack deep inside Russia over the weekend shows several strategic bombers were destroyed and badly damaged, according to three open source analysts. Ukraine targeted at least four air bases across Russia using 117 unmanned aerial vehicles launched from containers close to the targets. Drone footage of the operation verified by Reuters shows several aircraft were struck in at least two locations. Capella Space, a satellite company, supplied Reuters with an image of one of those airfields, located in the Siberian region of Irkutsk. The image was taken on June 2, the day after one of the most complex and effective operations launched by Ukraine in more than three years of war. Cloud cover can obscure conventional satellite pictures, but the data is from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites which direct energy beams at the Earth and detect echoes, making it possible to identify small topographical details. The image - more grainy than conventional high-resolution photographs and in black and white - appears to show the debris of several aircraft located along the runway of the Belaya military air base or parked in protective revetments nearby. "Based on the debris visible, comparison to recent satellite images and released drone footage from Telegram posted to Twitter, I can see the destruction of several aircraft," said John Ford, a research associate at the California-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Ford said that SAR imagery provided to him by Reuters showed what appeared to be the remnants of two destroyed Tu-22 Backfires - long-range, supersonic strategic bombers that have been used to launch missile strikes against Ukraine. The SAR image, as well as drone footage of the strikes posted on social media, also indicated that four strategic heavy Tu-95 bombers had been destroyed or severely damaged, he added. Brady Africk, an open source intelligence analyst, agreed that the SAR imagery of Irkutsk air base showed several Tu-95s and Tu-22s had been destroyed and damaged, although more imagery was needed to properly assess the impact. "But it is clear that the attack on this airbase was very successful," he said. "The aircrafttargeted in theattack were a mix of Tu-22 and Tu-95 bombers, both of which Russiahasused to launch strikes againstUkraine." Africk added that Belaya air base is home to several flatdecoyaircraft, which he said had apparently failed to mislead Ukrainian drones in this case. LARGE EXPLOSION Reuters has not yet obtained SAR imagery of the Olenya airfield, a base in Murmansk in Russia's far northwest that was also attacked. But drone video footage of Olenya base provided by Ukrainian authorities and verified by Reuters showed two burning bombers which appeared to be Tu-95s and a third, also a Tu-95, being hit by a large explosion. The Russian Defence Ministry said Ukraine had launched drone strikes targeting military airfields in Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur regions. Air defences repelled the assaults in three regions, but not Murmansk and Irkutsk, it said, adding that in those places several aircraft caught fire. Ukraine's domestic security agency, the SBU, has claimed responsibility for the operation, called "Spider's Web", and said that in total 41 Russian warplanes were hit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the attack, which struck targets up to 4,300 km (2,670 miles) from the frontlines of the war, "absolutely brilliant". Andriy Kovalenko, an official on Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, said that of more than 40 planes struck, 13 were destroyed. The Ukrainian military added 12 aircraft to its running tally of Russia's wartime military losses on Tuesday, without elaborating. The SBU said the damage caused by the operation amounted to $7 billion, and 34% of the strategic cruise missile carriers at Russia's main airfields were hit. Reuters could not independently verify the claims. Some experts said the operation would not be enough to stop Russia from launching missile attacks on Ukraine using strategic bombers, but it would be hard, if not impossible to replace the damaged planes because some of them are no longer in production. The attack was also likely to force Russia to reconfigure its air defences, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) research group. "The ... operation will force Russian officials to consider redistributing Russia's air defense systems to cover a much wider range of territory and possibly deploying mobile air defense groups that can more quickly react to possible similar Ukrainian drone strikes in the future," the ISW said. (Writing by Mike Collett-WhiteEditing by Frances Kerry)
The Star
3 hours ago
- The Star
At least 700,000 people in Russian-held Ukraine without power after Ukrainian strikes, officials say
FILE PHOTO: A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant from the bank of Kakhovka Reservoir near the town of Nikopol amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Alina Smutko/File Photo MOSCOW (Reuters) -At least 700,000 people across a swathe of southern Ukraine controlled by Russian forces were without power on Tuesday after Ukrainian drone attacks and shelling knocked out electricity substations, Russia-installed officials said. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, but the attack, which targeted the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, appeared to be one of the largest of its kind on Russian-held territory since the war began in February 2022. Russia lays claim to both regions, large areas of which it already controls and is trying to capture the rest of them, part of what it casts as its push to ensure its own security and secure the future of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers. Ukraine rejects Russia's portrayal of the conflict, calling it a colonial-style land grab by Moscow and vowing to retake the lost territory through a mixture of force and diplomacy. The drone attacks came hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegations met in Turkey for peace talks where Moscow said it would only agree to end the war if Kyiv cedes big new chunks of territory and accepts limits on the size of its army. Russian-backed officials said the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station - Europe's largest nuclear facility which was seized by Russia in 2022 - was under control but difficult. Russian officials running the plant said radiation levels were normal at the facility, which operates in shutdown mode and produces no power at the moment. WIDESPREAD OUTAGE Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed governor of Zaporizhzhia, said more than 600,000 people in nearly 500 settlements across the region had no electricity after Ukrainian shelling damaged high-voltage infrastructure. "As a result of shelling by the Ukrainian armed forces, high-voltage equipment was damaged in the northwestern part of the Zaporizhzhia region," Balitsky wrote on Telegram. "There is no electricity throughout the region. The Ministry of Energy ... has been instructed to develop reserve sources of electricity as soon as possible. Health care facilities have been transferred to backup power supply sources." In the adjacent Kherson region, further west, Russia-appointed Governor Vladimir Saldo said debris from fallen drones had damaged two electricity substations, knocking out power to more than 100,000 residents of 150 towns and villages in Russian-held areas. Emergency crews were working to restore power quickly, Saldo added. Separately, emergency services in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy said on Tuesday that a Russian attack on it had killed three people and injured at least 16 more. "The Russians launched a savage strike on Sumy – directly targeting the city and its ordinary streets with rocket artillery," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on X. The attack damaged an apartment building, three private residences, a warehouse and a hospital building, according to a statement from the emergency services. Sumy regional prosecutors said earlier that children were among those wounded in the attack. There was no immediate comment from Russia on these Ukrainian reports. Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians in their attacks. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian. For many long months in the winter, it was Ukrainian towns and villages that endured repeated electricity cuts as Russian forces focused strikes on generating capacity. Each side has repeatedly accused the other of launching attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and running the risk of a nuclear accident. The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said last week in response to a Ukrainian complaint that it saw no sign of Russia preparing to restart the Zaporizhzhia plant and connect it to the Russian grid. The IAEA has stationed monitors permanently at Zaporizhzhia and Ukraine's other nuclear power stations. (Reporting by Moscow bureau, Lidia Kelly in Melbourne and Anastasia Malenko in Kyiv; writing by Andrew Osborn, Ron Popeski and Lidia Kelly; editing by Franklin Paul, Stephen Coates, Lincoln Feast and Mark Heinrich)
The Star
3 hours ago
- The Star
Zelenskiy aides visit US as Ukraine strikes Russian-held territory
Emergency service members work at the site where Russian drones damaged several private houses, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, June 1, 2025. REUTERS/Thomas Peter KYIV (Reuters) -Senior Ukrainian officials visited Washington on Tuesday seeking U.S. support against Russia, as Kyiv showed its ability to fight on by setting off an explosive device under a bridge that has become a symbol of the Kremlin's claims on Ukrainian territory. A day after talks in Istanbul that made little progress towards ending Russia's war in Ukraine, Kyiv launched what appeared to be one of its biggest waves of coordinated attacks of the conflict. Ukraine's SBU security service said it had hit a road and rail bridge that links Russia and Crimea below the water level with explosives. The extent of any damage was not clear but there were no immediate signs of traffic disruption. The bridge is a flagship project for Russian President Vladimir Putin, built after he annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, in a precursor to the latest conflict. Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones and shelling targeting the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region and the Kherson region in the south damaged electricity substations, leaving at least 700,000 people without power, Russia-installed officials said. Underlining the gulf between the two sides after more than three years of war, the Kremlin said work on trying to reach a peace settlement was extraordinarily complex and that it would be wrong to expect any imminent decisions. Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, arrived in the United States along with Deputy Prime Minister Yuliia Svrydenko. Ukraine says Moscow is stalling the peace talks and Yermak signalled that he would press Ukrainian demands for tougher sanctions on Russia. "We will actively promote issues that are important for Ukraine. Our agenda is rather comprehensive," Yermak said on the Telegram app after arriving in Washington. "We plan to talk about defence support and the situation on the battlefield, strengthening sanctions against Russia." Yermak said the officials would also discuss a deal that gives the U.S. preferential access to new Ukrainian mineral projects and sets up an investment fund that could be used for the reconstruction of Ukraine. DRONE ATTACKS Kyiv appears determined to show U.S. President Donald Trump that it can still fight on, despite the rising death toll and destruction in the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two. Ukraine's attack on Russian-occupied territory in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions followed multiple Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure that have at times left millions of Ukrainians without power during the war. "There is no electricity throughout the region," Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed governor of Zaporizhzhia, said. "The Ministry of Energy ... has been instructed to develop reserve sources of electricity as soon as possible. Healthcare facilities have been transferred to back up power supply sources." The attack followed drone strikes at the weekend on Russian military airfields, some of which housed long-range nuclear-capable bombers. Ukraine's success in striking deep into Russia has prompted calls by some Russian military bloggers for a harsh response. A Russian artillery strike on the northeast Ukrainian city of Sumy on Tuesday killed three people and wounded 25, local officials said. "That's all one needs to know about the Russian wish to end this war," Zelenskiy said on Telegram. Moscow has responded to such accusations by saying Ukraine is not making a genuine effort to seek peace. At Monday's talks in Istanbul, Russia told Ukraine it would agree to end the war only if Kyiv gives up big new chunks of territory and accepts limits on the size of its army. Ukraine rejects the Russian conditions as tantamount to surrender. "The (peace) settlement theme is extremely complex, it consists of a large number of nuances...," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, adding that "it would be wrong to expect any immediate solutions and breakthroughs here". (Writing by Timothy HeritageEditing by Gareth Jones)
