Saifuddin said he needed to verify the details of the case before commenting further on the detention of the minor by police.

“A 16-year-old? I haven’t received the information yet. I will check on this first,” he told FMT.

The case attracted public attention after FMT reported her mother as pleading for the girl’s release following her arrest at a roadblock near the Jitra toll plaza and subsequent detention in connection with a migrant‑smuggling probe.

The mother said the teen was only a passenger in the car and that she was suffering from bouts of vomiting and had developed skin allergies while in detention.

The girl had been arrested with her father and others who were in the car. She has no criminal record though her father had been jailed previously.

Kedah police chief Adzli Abu Shah confirmed the arrest when contacted.

Rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia called for the girl’s immediate release, saying the minor should have been dealt with under the Child Act 2017.

The cops, it said, are required to observe all statutory child safeguards, including producing the girl in a children’s court within 24 hours.

Sosma, which critics have labelled as draconian, allows detention without trial for up to 28 days. The government is in the midst of reviewing certain provisions under the controversial law.