The law firm representing the trio, Thomas Philip, said their detention at a safe house “amounts to a form of detainment which is a direct breach of their fundamental liberties”.

“We say that there is no basis for police to suspect they were trafficked persons,” the law firm said in the application filed at the High Court here today.

“It was their assistance that led to the police making an arrest (on an alleged rape case) and the three have also cooperated with the authorities in the course of the investigation.”

Thomas Philip said the trio’s confinement had also restricted their access to communication “with the world outside”.

“One of the three women has health issues and she is unable to get in touch with her ill mother,” it said.

The trio were reported to have been arrested by police for investigation under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act.

Yesterday, the law firm had filed a suit in the Kuala Lumpur High Court against a police inspector and a boutique hotel proprietor in Petaling Jaya on behalf of two other Mongolian women.

The women, aged 20 and 37, whose identities were withheld as they would be filing for a gag order, sued the inspector for false imprisonment and sexual assault.

They also sued the hotel for aiding him to commit the alleged crime.

The women want the court to award special, general, punitive and exemplary damages as well as any other relief deemed fit.

It was reported that two women were arrested at a roadblock in Petaling Jaya and detained by an officer over claims they did not possess valid travel documents.

The officer allegedly took the women to a hotel where he was accused of raping them.

A 30-year-old suspect was remanded for seven days but was freed on Saturday on police bail.

Petaling Jaya police said they had sent the investigation papers to the deputy public prosecutor’s office in Shah Alam for a decision.

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