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©The
Sunday Star (Used by permission)
PETALING JAYA: It is a dream job at an international company dealing with
the import-export of goods. The office is swanky with various branches overseas.
Cool boss, good money and if you are lucky, the chance to travel – what more
could a fresh graduate ask for?
More than they bargained for, apparently, as some young Malaysians have recently
discovered.
One is Umi Azlim Mohamad Lazim, a 24-year-old graduate of Universiti Malaysia
Sabah, who was enticed by a high-paying courier job advertised on the Net early
this year. She was caught at Shantou airport in China with 2,983g of heroin in
her luggage. She has been sentenced to death.
Another is Raja Munirah Raja Iskandar, 22, a mass communication student at a
private college in Cyberjaya, who travelled to Japan to be interviewed for a
well-paid job last year, as recommended by her Iranian friend.
She is languishing in a Japanese jail, serving a seven-year jail term after
being caught with drugs at the Narita International Airport.
News reports reveal that in the past 11 months, about 32 Malaysian women between
the ages of 20 and 40 had been arrested for their involvement as couriers.
Federal narcotics department director Comm Datuk Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin said that
while there are a few who were tricked into trafficking drugs by their foreign
friends or acquaintances, many of the young women were lured by good money and
free overseas trips.
He believes the number of women involved in smuggling drugs could be much higher
than what's on police record. There are also many women consciously working for
drug syndicates.
“Up to now, over 30 women, mostly in their 20s, have been nabbed but we won’t be
surprised if the number of women acting as couriers is triple that,” he said.
Foreign Ministry parliamentary secretary Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek agreed that
many were inexperienced and unaware of the foreign country's laws and culture.
“Their cases show a similar pattern: many of them are first-time travellers and
had just got their passports,” he said.
Lawyer Rosal Azimin Ahmad, who was hired by Raja Munirah's family to help defend
her, pointed out that international drug syndicates have a new modus operandi.
“Many syndicates use the cover of international companies to lure young women
with big salaries and travel opportunities. They prey on young people's ambition
to make fast money without working too hard. Unfortunately, many of them are
easily conned because they are simply too impatient to get rich,” he said.
He added it was getting more
difficult to distinguish between a real business entity and a drug
syndicate as many now go the extra
mile to put up a facade of legitimacy.
“The syndicates now make a lot of money so they can afford to set up an office
while their members live and dress well.
“They can also afford to take time to gain not only their target's confidence
but also that of the family and friends.
“For work, they offer the young women different positions, not a courier's job.
When they are settled in, maybe six months down the road, they will be sent on
an overseas assignment,” he said.
Young women lured by the promise of big money
THE family of Devi, 30, who was caught with 688.26g of heroin while entering
Gongbei, China on Feb 9, is awaiting news of her fate.
The woman’s sister, who wanted to be known as Saras, said they only received a
second request for RM1,000 and clothes in September to be forwarded to a lawyer
representing her sister.
“I am trying to raise the money for her. We are poor people,” she said when
contacted.
Saras said the family had contacted the Malaysian Consulate General in Guangzhou
and the lawyer representing her but had not received any news.
“We sent RM1,000 to the lawyer in early July and are awaiting word to make the
trip to see her at the Zhuhai detention centre in China,” she said.
Saras said they had wanted to visit Devi at the centre but the Malaysian
Consulate General had advised them not to come, as they would not be able to see
her.
“My 67-year-old mother is on her deathbed and wants to see her youngest
daughter. Every day, she asks whether there is any news from China,” she said.
She said Devi, who was unemployed, frequented a cyber café in Cheras and became
friends with several African men.
“One of them asked her to deliver important documents to a client in Macau and
offered to pay her US$5,000 (RM17,000),” she said.
Saras said their elder brother was against the trip but without the family’s
knowledge, her sister had made all the arrangements to go and informed the
family only hours before the trip.
At the airport, the man and two of his friends gave her a sling bag containing
the documents, a suit and a pair of shoes, saying that she would look
presentable when she delivered the documents.
Devi called Saras to inform her that she had checked into a hotel in Macau but
the people who were supposed to collect the documents could not meet her, and
she was asked to take a bus across the border to Gongbei Port.
At the port, Devi was detained for having 688.26gm of heroin concealed in the
suit, shoes and inside a bottle of body lotion.
“My sister was greedy for the money and she is now paying a heavy price. She is
innocent and has been cheated,” she said.
Malaysian officials said five Malaysian women, aged between 23 and 33, and two
of them pregnant, were detained on suspicion of carrying drugs to Guangzhou
early this year.
All said friendly Africans had offered them money to carry documents or Chinese
herbs to China, and they were unaware that they had been duped into carrying
drugs.
They claimed that they were among about 20 young women lured by Africans in
Malaysia into carrying drugs to China.
The pregnant women were provided medical treatment at the Guangzhou Wu Jing
Hospital before being deported to Malaysia, the officials said. – By A.
LETCHUMANAN
Hidden danger in dream jobs
International drug syndicates are targeting young Malaysian women to be their
mules overseas, but their con is becoming more and more difficult to detect.
FOR many, it was too good to resist. A job with a “multinational” in a ritzy
office, cool boss, good money and travel opportunities – how lucky can a fresh
graduate get?
However, as a few young Malaysians recently discovered, the dream can easily
turn into a nightmare. The bright future instantly dimmed as they find
themselves languishing in foreign jails or biding time until their execution
under another country's law.
Umi Azlim Mohamad Lazim, a 24-year-old graduate of Universiti Malaysia Sabah,
could not believe her luck when she saw the high-paying courier job advertised
on the Net early this year. She was caught at Shantou airport in China with
2,983gms of heroin in her luggage, and has been sentenced to death.
Neither could Raja Munirah Raja Iskandar, 22, a mass communication student in a
private college in Cyberjaya, who travelled to Japan to be interviewed for a
well-paid job last year, as recommended by her Iranian friend.
Her “helpful” friend even bought her a travelling bag and winter clothes, which
he passed to her just before she departed. This proved to be a costly gift as
Raja Munirah was later caught in the Narita International Airport with drugs in
her locked luggage. Charged with trafficking in 690gm of Syabu, she is now
serving a seven-year-and-one-month jail term in Kosuke Detention Centre, Tokyo.
Previously, most drug traffickers played on women’s emotions with promises of
love to get them to do their dirty jobs. The “casanovas” usually lured these
women by showering them with expensive gifts before sending them off on
all-expense paid holidays to foreign destinations, where they were requested to
pass a gift to a friend or relative.
These days, many drug syndicates prey on the MTV generation's need for instant
gratification and materialistic aspirations, with the quick buck and high-flying
lifestyle the common carrots.
“Unfortunately, many of our young are easily conned because they are simply too
impatient to get rich and attain the high lifestyle they aspire to,” said lawyer
Rosal Azimin Ahmad, who was hired by Raja Munirah's family to help defend her.
According to Tenaganita programme coordinator Aegile Fernandez, the problem is
intensified by globalisation.
“Drug syndicates have become international with their members easily travelling
in and out of Malaysia under the guise of tourists and students. Our work on
trafficking has revealed that our borders are porous as it is easy for
foreigners to enter the country and smuggle in drugs or weapons,” she alleged.
The modus operandi of drug syndicates has also become more insidious, added
Rosal Azimin.
“It is a rich syndicate, so many can put up a rich cover like a good office
while their members live and dress well. They can also afford to take time to
gain not only their target’s confidence but also the family and friends. Like in
Raja Munirah’s case, the Iranian man who conned her is close to her family,
having been to their house many times.
“For work, sometimes it is not even a courier job, you might be hired for
another job, and when you are settled in, maybe six months down the road, you
might be sent on an overseas assignment. So, you can't really blame the girls
who get duped for being stupid or careless,” he said.
MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong also
believes that many of the young mules were duped and exploited by international
drug syndicates.
“Some of these girls responded to job offers by international companies set up
by Middle Easterners and Africans in Kuala Lumpur that put up job
advertisements.
“The bosses would bring them for meetings with the so-called VIPs and even take
them to meetings overseas.
“So, bringing documents and brief cases are natural and these girls do not know
that the drugs were implanted inside.
“The girls were all innocent and they could pass through the watchful eyes of
drug enforcers trained to observe people at the airport. They did not know that
they were carrying drugs until their bags were screened. We must help them,”
Chong said.
News reports revealed that in the past 11 months, about 32 Malaysian women in
the 20 to 40 age group have been arrested for their involvement.
Women, Family and Community Development Ministry parliamentary secretary Datin
Paduka Chew Mei Fun argued that most of the time greed landed people into
trouble.
She said no one would offer so much of money for an easy job.
“Therefore, Malaysians, especially young women, must not easily fall into such a
trap, and trust strangers in a short period of time.”
Information important
Jobstreet.com vice-president (Marketing), Simon Si urged young jobseekers to
always be careful and cautious when it comes to jobs that seem very lucrative
(abnormally high salary) for very little effort.
“Such “dream” jobs rarely exist. The most important when accepting a job offer
is to be absolutely sure about the company you will be working for and
absolutely clear about your role and responsibility in that position,” he said.
He added it is crucial that they take the effort to do some background checks.
“The Internet is a good source to get information on companies. If the job is
posted by a recruitment agency, a check with the Human Resource Ministry can
help to determine if the agency is properly licensed. If it is a company, its
record would be with the Registrar of Companies,” he said, adding that looking
for a job through established recruitment companies such a JobStreet.com is much
safer as they will have a verification measure in place.
He explained, at Jobstreet, jobs that are posted with insufficient information
on type of job and requirements will be highlighted by the system, hence it will
be checked and if the information provided is not satisfactory the job does not
get posted.
“If jobseekers are called for an interview, they should take the effort during
the job interview to learn more about each other for the purpose of filling a
position within an organisation,” said Si, adding that if it is suspicious, the
job offer should be turned down.
A graphic artist in her mid-thirties who only wanted to be known as Reena
relayed her experience of being offered a courier job for a foreign NGO in the
Middle East in one of the social networks on the Internet.
“At first it seemed harmless enough as the job is to deliver relief supplies to
disaster and war torn areas. Then I got suspicious about why the organisation
had to recruit people through the Internet, and started asking questions.”
She became more suspicious when she was told that she would not be allowed to
open and check the packages.
“I kept egging him and his breaking point came when I asked why they did not use
courier service for the deliveries and he just snapped back that if I was not
interested, there are many others who need the money willing to do the job,” she
said.
She added, however, that she might have jumped at the opportunity without a
thought if she had been younger and more naive.
Young girls the target
Prominent lawyer Datuk Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who defended the case of Ruzana
Zubir who was arrested in Australia for smuggling 5kg of opium last year,
believes that many of the Malaysian girls who were caught were naive.
“Young girls with not much experience travelling overseas are certainly not
aware of the kind of complications that they can get into right from the time
they a board a plane and land at foreign airports,” he said.
Muhammad Shafee said in the case of Ruzana, it was proven without doubt that she
was not aware of the nature of substances she was carrying.
Ruzana who was arrested on April 1, 2005 after Australian customs officers
seized a tar-like block wrapped in tape from her luggage when she arrived in
Sydney. She was later freed and acquitted by an Australian court of the charge.
Chew urged the police to find the root cause. “If it is the foreigners, try to
arrest them to ensure the culprits do not get off scott- free.”
“We at the ministry level will discuss on what can be done to ensure young women
do not get cheated by foreigners, until they end up in prison,” she added.
One area that needed attention is the dissemination of information on the
dangers, said Fernandez.
“In the past there were many campaigns and posters to raise awareness on the
dangers of getting duped into drug trafficking. That has stopped,” she said.
Fernandez stressed that a problem was that the authorities are not doing enough
to nab the big players – the syndicates.
“We are nabbing the addicts and the couriers but more needs to be done to catch
the syndicates' big bosses,” she said.
Muhammad Shafee agreed, “Many of them were targeted by foreigners, where the
initial contact is made in Malaysia, and I believe that the police should
unravel the people behind the syndicate.”
• Reports by LEE YUK PENG, MANJIT KAUR, ANDREW SAGAYAM and
HARIATI AZIZAN
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