Johor police chief Ab Rahaman Arsad said the four suspects, aged 30 to 34, were detained at a house in Taman Johor, near Tampoi, at about 7:30 p.m. on June 13. The arrests were carried out by the Johor Criminal Investigation Department and the Johor Bahru North district police.
The two couples lived together in the same house, and the two women among them are sisters, he told a press conference the following day, in remarks reported by the New Straits Times and Free Malaysia Today.
Four video clips of the assault spread on social media before the arrests. In the footage, a man believed to be the women's employer was seen slapping and punching one of them while others verbally abused her, The Vibes reported.
Ab Rahaman said the recorded assault is believed to have taken place on July 26, 2025, that one of the victims made the recording herself, and that it surfaced publicly only recently. Investigators are still working to establish a motive, and police believe two other domestic workers employed by the suspects were subjected to similar abuse.
The fullest account of the women came from the Indonesian consulate in Johor Bahru. In a statement reported by the state news agency Antara, the consulate said all three victims are Indonesian, identified by the initials YY, SH and YA, and had worked as domestic helpers in Johor.
