According to specialists, people of a Malay spiritual organization who are accused of human trafficking and child sexual abuse continued to commit crimes also after a significant police assault.
The Islamic Global Ikhwan Group (GISB) made international headlines in September after police rescued 402 minors suspected of being abused across 20 care homes.
Educators and caretakers were among the 171 offenders that were detained at the time, but lots more have been detained as more information about the group’s alleged crimes become available.
Among them are claims that five GISB people had threats against them to evict them for forced labor up until October 1st, making those claims a reality.
Warning: This story contains depictions of sexual and physical crime.
A GISB-owned beach in Johor, in the state of South Indonesia, was managed by two of the accused. On Sunday, they were detained in connection with four works of human smuggling involving a man between the ages of 30 and 57. The second, a worker at the same location, was charged with two matters of sexually abusing a 16-year-old.
At least two other defendants in the affair, which took place between August 2023 and 1 October 2024, are still at large.
According to authorities, lots of other victims, ranging from one to 17 years old, have been alleged to have been subjected to a variety of abuse at treatment facilities connected to GISB, with some supposedly being sodomized by their guardians and forced to sexually assault other children.
In a press conference on Monday, attorneys representing GISB denied allegations of illegal business activities and organised crime, asking for a” good research” as police investigations continue.
However, its CEO, Nasiruddin Mohd Ali, had previously admitted there were “one or two instances of prostitution” at the care properties.
” Indeed, there were one or two cases of sodomy, but why lump them ( the cases ) all together”? Nasiruddin stated in a video posted to the business ‘ Facebook page.
GISB has hundreds of businesses across 20 countries, operating across fields including kindness, food and knowledge. Additionally, it has been linked to Al-Arqam, a spiritual sect that the Malaysian authorities banned in 1994 due to concerns about abiding Muslim teachings.
Khaulah Ashaari, the girl of Al-Arqam leader Ashaari Muhammad, is a member of GISB, and has denied that the group also follows her late husband’s lessons.
Government officials praised a number of results made since the kids were rescued from the care houses last month during a specific action on Tuesday in the lower apartment of Malaysia’s parliament, which was held in connection with GISB.
Datuk Sari Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, the home secretary, told the court that some children as young as two years old were separated from their families and instructed to work while presenting the idea of “practical training.”
He added that as a form of punishment for “disciplinary intrusions,” they were sometimes forced to perform lots of squats.
” If they did any wrongdoings, for something as simple as not queuing up properly, they would be punished with not 100 but 500 ketuk ketampi ( squats )”, Saifuddin said, according to a report by local outlet The Star.
” According to analyses by therapists– either through the officer’s D11 system or the Welfare Department – these children missed their kids”, he added. ” Some do n’t even know them”.
To date, the officers activity against GISB has resulted in 415 detention and the recovery of 625 kids, according to Saifuddin.
The Indonesian authorities have even expanded their investigations into GISB abroad, seeking the assistance of Interpol.