<figure id="attachment_3278829" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3278829" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3278829" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/8b3b20e3-saifuddin-nasution-bernama-pic-9226.webp" alt="Saifuddin Nasution" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3278829" class="wp-caption-text">Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the girl was seated beside her father in a vehicle when he was detained during a probe into cross-border migrant smuggling. (Bernama pic)</figcaption></figure>
KUALA LUMPUR: Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has defended the detention of a 16-year-old girl under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma), saying police needed her to help investigate a complex cross-border migrant smuggling case.
He said the teenager was seated in the passenger side of a vehicle when her father was nabbed.
“Her father was a ‘transporter’ and clearly, she is an important witness,” he told the Dewan Rakyat when winding up the debate on the king’s speech for his ministry today.
Saifuddin said the teenager was held for nine days.
He also said her detention was carried out under Section 4 of Sosma to help in investigations into migrant smuggling, which he described as a serious cross-border crime.
He said police were investigating the smuggling of Myanmar migrants to Malaysia through the Thai border when the &#8220;transporter&#8221; was arrested.
Ramkarpal Singh (PH-Bukit Gelugor) asked whether the government would impose a moratorium on arrests under Sosma pending the tabling of amendments.
Saifuddin said there would be no moratorium for now.
However, he said the Cabinet had given the home ministry the green light to work on amendments to Sosma and that they would engage stakeholders soon.
“We aim to table the amendments when Parliament convenes in July or August,” he said.
Saifuddin said among the most criticised aspects of Sosma are that detainees are denied bail, and the long delay in proceedings.
He said the government was looking at classifying offences by seriousness and expediting cases.
A special court was also being mooted to look into Sosma cases, given their long duration.
The teen’s detention under Sosma drew public attention after FMT reported the mother’s plea to release her daughter following her arrest at a roadblock near the Jitra toll plaza in Kedah.
The woman said police flagged down the vehicle in which the teenager was travelling, alleging that it was being used to smuggle migrants.
The girl, along with her father and others in the car, were taken into custody.
During her detention, she suffered vomiting and developed skin allergies.

MatchPoint Times

Saifuddin defends detention of teen under Sosma

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