Immigration arrests 309 undocumented migrants in early morning raid

The immigration department arrested 309 illegal immigrants out of 715 individuals inspected during an integrated operation carried out at a settlement near ​​a construction site in Dengkil, early this morning.

Those detained comprised 280 men and 29 women, aged 20 to 50, of various nationalities: Indonesian (193), Bangladeshi (102), Vietnamese (four), Indian (two) and Myanmarese (eight).

Immigration director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud said his department had received information from members of the public who claimed that there were individuals at the settlement who were believed to have violated the movement control order (MCO) SOPs.

He said as a result, the department had raided the area and found that they did not comply with the prescribed SOPs.

“I arrived with the operations team and found that their settlement was so dense, dirty and did not have a proper drainage system, apart from having a place to gather and eat in large numbers.

“They also admitted that they lived in a group in one room, which is about four to seven people,” he told reporters.

Khairul said this showed that they were free to do anything at the construction site without any compliance with the MCO SOPs.

He said this was the main purpose of the home ministry which had directed the immigration department to help reduce positive cases of Covid-19 involving immigrants at the workplace.

He also said that Indonesian women would sneak into the country by having their husbands enter Malaysia to work first, after which they would follow using social visit passes.

“Indonesian women enter Malaysia using a social visit pass and continue to reside in the country beyond the stipulated time. In addition, they live with their husbands who work illegally in the country.

“All these illegal immigrants will undergo Covid-19 screening today to be carried out by the Putrajaya and Seremban district health offices,” he said.

Khairul said after the screening test, the immigrants would be placed at the Semenyih immigration depot to be detained and investigated in accordance with Section 6 (1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 and Section 15 (1)(c) of the same law, before deportation.

During the operation, the immigration department also inspected 10 Rohingya refugees who were UNHCR cardholders.

“Out of the 10 UNCHR cardholders, only two of them were arrested for possessing fake UNCHR cards while the others were released,” he said.

The integrated operation which ran from 12.30am until 2.30am was joined by 189 personnel from various enforcement agencies including the General Operations Force, National Registration Department, Labour Department and Civil Defence Force.