A trafficked Cambodian woman was taken into Malaysian immigration police custody after a raid on karaoke bars on Sunday night, Cambodian embassy officials confirmed yesterday.

The Cambodian woman was found in Kota Bura along with 22 other foreign victims of human trafficking, who were removed from five different karaoke bars, according to Malaysian media reports.

The women all had valid travel documents and would be transferred to a shelter in Kuala Lampur, the reports said.

Cambodian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said yesterday that he was unaware of the case.

But Chhay Kosal, an official at the Cambodian Embassy in Malaysia, said he had “already sent a report to that ministry”.

The case comes on the heels of several recent incidents in which Cambodia’s Foreign Ministry came under fire for what were characterised as incompetent or slow reactions to the plight of its overseas citizens.