The women, family and community development minister said the 560 children – 283 boys and 277 girls – are now in the temporary custody of the social welfare department (JKM).

She said the department would apply to the court to extend the protection order if the current two-month period expires before police wrap up their investigations.

GISBH is being investigated for child abuse, sexual abuse, human trafficking, money laundering and deviant Islamic teachings. On Monday, the legal team representing GISBH appealed to the authorities to grant the parents access to their children.

“So far, visits have not been permitted. If we open the ‘flood gates’, there will be many people – not just the parents – who will come,” Nancy was reported as saying by Berita Harian.

“We have observed that there are people lurking outside (the shelters), and we do not know if they are these children’s parents.

“As I mentioned yesterday, the parents need to provide evidence that these are really their children … Once they do so, it’ll be relatively easy for us to release them,” she said during an event in Putrajaya.

Yesterday, Nancy told the Dewan Rakyat that while the government’s priority is to reunite the children with their families, it must first ensure that they can provide a safe and supportive environment.

She said her ministry had formed a task force to assess the children’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Police raided welfare homes that the authorities linked to GISBH and rescued 402 children on Sept 11. Some of the children were allegedly sodomised and coached to sexually assault others.

Police have since raided more welfare homes linked to GISBH, which previously said it had discarded its former image as the business wing of Al-Arqam; a cult movement declared deviant by the National Fatwa Council in 1994.

More than 300 people associated with GISBH, including its top management, were detained in recent operations to clamp down on the company’s activities across the country.