Malaysia is set to open special courts to try human traffickers and speed up prosecutions. Currently, long, drawn-out court cases mean many victims opt just to return home or even not to report the crimes committed against them rather than seeking justice. Rian Maelzer reports from Kuala Lumpur.

Police raid a karaoke joint fronting for a brothel, arresting several foreign women. Immigration officers swoop on a construction site, rounding up dozens of foreigners without proper papers. Many times, these people didn't sneak into the country to work illegally. They were conned by human traffickers, promised legal, well-paying jobs but instead found themselves robbed of their travel documents and sold into debt servitude.

SAIFUL ISLAM HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIM "An agent came to my village and said if you go abroad you can do really well for yourself. He sold me big dreams and I believed him. My family sold its land, took loans from loan sharks, spent 5,000 dollars for me to come here. When I arrived, the Malaysian agent sold me to a business man."

Saiful ended up working on a construction site earning a quarter of what he was promised and less than needed just to repay his loans. He became an illegal immigrant in the eyes of the authorities. Victims often don't seek justice, fearing arrest and lengthy detention.

RIAN MAELZER KUALA LUMPUR "Following the discovery on the Thailand-Malaysia border in 2015 of mass graves containing the remains of Rohingya and Bangladeshi human trafficking victims, the Malaysian authorities have stepped up their efforts to combat this crime."

Its latest move is to set up special courts to speed up the prosecution of human traffickers. 

KHADIJAH SHAMSUL, PROGRAM MANAGER MIGRANT88 NGO "A lot of these victims feel that these cases are taking too long. So a lot of these people feel the need to rush back to their normal life rather than continusouly be stuck here and be traumatized further. So having a special court now finally means that these people can go out and report their cases, resolve their cases and go back to their normal life."

Normal life is a remote dream for Saiful Islam.

SAIFUL ISLAM HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIM "I am in lot of trouble. Our last little bit of remaining land has been confiscated by loan sharks and the bank. My father is getting sick because of this tension. My future is dark."

Saiful is trying to work here has long as possible to recoup what money he can, while living in constant fear of being detained and deported. Rian Maelzer, CGTN, Kuala Lumpur.