KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police said on Tuesday they had opened an investigation into the disappearance this month of a Myanmar democracy activist and her family, who are U.N. refugee card holders.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) this week said Thuzar Maung, 46, her husband and three children, were feared abducted "in a planned operation" on July 4, citing witnesses and CCTV footage at the activist's home in the Malaysian state of Selangor.

"The Malaysian government should urgently act to locate the family and ensure their safety," HRW Asia director Elaine Pearson said in a statement on Monday.

Police have opened a missing persons inquiry after receiving a report on the family's disappearance, Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan told Reuters.

He did not elaborate further but said the investigation would "investigate any element of crime, including kidnapping."

Malaysia has been an outspoken critic of violence in Myanmar after the military ousted a democratically elected government in February 2021. But it has also been criticised by rights groups for deporting thousands of Myanmar nationals, including military defectors.

Thuzar Maung, who fled Myanmar for Malaysia in 2015 to escape growing violence against Muslims, may have been targeted due to her support for Myanmar's pro-democracy movement, HRW said. It did not identify who might have been responsible.

Thuzar Maung heads the Myanmar Muslim Refugee Community and has over 93,000 followers on her Facebook page, where she frequently posts criticism of alleged abuses by Myanmar's junta.

Myanmar's embassy in Kuala Lumpur did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CCTV footage showed a car entering the gated community where her family lived on July 4, HRW said. The driver told security guards they were police, but authorities later identified the license plate of the car as fake, according to HRW.

About two hours later, a friend who was talking to Thuzar Maung on the phone heard her telling her husband that unknown men were entering her home, HRW said.

The same car and two cars belonging to the family were seen leaving the compound shortly after. Thuzar Maung and her family members' phones were also turned off, it added.