The arrests follow the recent rescue of 402 children and youth from care homes allegedly run by a prominent business group.

Warning: The story below contains details of abuse in care homes.

Police in Malaysia have arrested the chief executive and other leaders of a prominent business group accused of running charity homes where hundreds of children and youth were allegedly physically and sexually abused.

Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain confirmed on Thursday that Nasiruddin Mohd Ali, the head of Global Ikhwan Services and Business (GISB), and 18 other people ranging in age from 25 to 65 were arrested following a police raid in the capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Several of the detainees were members of the advisory board of GISB, a self-described “Islamic” company involved in businesses ranging from supermarkets to laundromats in more than 20 countries, which has been linked to the now-defunct Malaysia-based Al-Arqam religious sect.

Also included in the dragnet were two of Nasiruddin’s four wives and two of his children, as well as several children of late Malaysian preacher Ashaari Mohamed, founder of Al-Arqam, which was banned by the government in 1994 after being deemed heretical.

In a separate swoop, five other people linked to the company were arrested at the border with Thailand, said Razarudin.

Rescue

The arrests follow last week’s rescue of 402 children and youth from 20 premises across two states, many showing signs of neglect, as well as physical and sexual abuse, according to officials.

Police arrested 171 adults – including religious teachers and caretakers – in the coordinated raids.

They said the homes were run by GISB, but the firm has denied managing them.

Some of the children, aged from 1 to 17, were believed to have been sodomised by their guardians and taught to sexually abuse each other, according to Razarudin.

He claimed they were denied medical treatment and burned with hot metal spoons as punishment for being disobedient.

Medical screening has so far shown that at least 13 teens were sodomised and 172 children suffered long-term physical and emotional injuries, the police chief said.

Preliminary police investigations determined that the affected children were the sons and daughters of Malaysian employees of GISB, placed in the homes since they were infants.

It is thought that the children were exploited to collect public donations.

Authorities have frozen 96 bank accounts linked to GISB, with a value of 581,000 ringgit ($137,000), as part of the investigation into sexual abuse, child neglect, human trafficking and money laundering.

Three men arrested as part of the police investigation into GISB were also separately charged in court on Thursday, said Razarudin.

The men, who pleaded not guilty, face several charges of allegedly sexual assaulting boys at a religious school in Negeri Sembilan state, according to court charge sheets seen by the Reuters news agency.

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, caning, or both.

Police previously charged two other people as part of its investigation into GISB.