229 illegals nabbed under nationwide ‘Ops Mega 3.0’

Desperation: An illegal immigrant making a break for it while a plain-clothes Immigration officer tries to detain him in Kuala Lumpur.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Immigration Depart­ment’s Ops Mega 3.0 operation – launched at midnight Sunday – resulted in the arrest of 229 immigrants.

Bernama reported that Immigra­tion personnel checked the travel documents of 1,672 immigrants.

Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said the nationwide operation was launched following the conclusion of the rehiring programme.

He said they would also nab employers who continued to hire illegal migrant workers.

“This measure is necessary to overcome the influx of illegal immigrants,” he said during the operation in the Lebuh Pudu area yesterday.

Mustafar said 19,969 illegal immigrants of various nationalities had been arrested nationwide between Jan 1 and yesterday.

The department also took legal action against 536 employers who employed illegal immigrants.

He said 9,854 illegal immigrants had been prosecuted to date and the rest would be prosecuted soon.

He said Indonesians comprised the biggest number of illegal immigrants arrested, numbering 6,871.

He also said no restrictions had been imposed on former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi from travelling abroad as his name was not on the blacklist.

Dr Ahmad Zahid will be giving his statement to the MACC today to assist in a probe into the use of funds from his family-run foundation.