Locked up: Some of the foreigners are seen inside one of the rooms of the house in Taman Sejati Indah in Sungai Petani.
SUNGAI PETANI: Police rescued 46 foreigners, comprising of Bangladeshis and Myanmar nationals, who were confined in a house in Taman Sejati Indah here.
Aged between 18 and 45, they appeared tired when they were found inside the double-storey house at about 4am yesterday after residents, who heard a continuous commotion, alerted the police at the beat base in the neighbourhood.
Believed to be human trafficking victims, the foreigners told police they had not eaten for several days.
S. Deevanthan, 39, who lives in the area, said he first heard noises from the house at 11.30pm on Thursday, but he ignored it, thinking it was a normal fight among the foreigners.
He said he got suspicious later when he saw several men, wearing what appeared to be police vests with the words PDRM emblazoned on them, outside the house early yesterday.
“I went up to them and asked why they were guarding the place, but they told me to leave as they were handling a case,” he said.
Deevanthan said the commotion from the house went on again later.
It was then that he and several other neighbours decided to inform the police.
He said the men wearing the “police vests” became anxious when they saw the policemen and fled in a car with two women who were believed to be foreigners.
Kuala Muda district police chief Asst Comm Khalil Arifin said the 46 foreigners rescued did not have valid travel documents and were believed to have been locked up in the house to be sent to other locations later.
One of them said he had entered the country 12 days ago and was then sent to the house.
ACP Khalil said police arrested a Malaysian and two Bangladeshis, in their 40s, shortly after the rescue.
He urged those with information to call the Kuala Muda district police headquarters at 04-429 9222.
