Sandakan: A local man was charged in the Magistrate's Court here today with four counts of trafficking three girls and a woman for sexual exploitation. Chu Nyuk Sheng, 32, nodded to indicate understanding after the charges were read before Magistrate Nur Faezah Jafry. No plea was recorded as the case falls under the jurisdiction of the Sessions Court.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, for the first three charges, Chu is accused of trafficking three girls aged 15, 16, and 17 for sexual exploitation at a hotel in Jalan 3, Sandakan, at 10.45 pm on May 14. Two of the girls did not have identification documents. The fourth charge alleges the same offence involving a 30-year-old foreign woman of Buton descent at a hotel in Bandar Leila at 10.15 pm on the same day.

All the charges were framed under Section 14 of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (ATIPSOM) Act 2007, which provides for imprisonment for life or for a term of not less than five years and liability to whipping upon conviction. The court did not offer bail and set June 15 for mention of the case at the Sessions Court.

Prosecuting Officer Ong Teik Yi conducted the prosecution. The accused was unrepresented.