Vigilante group has no authority to detain illegals, warns Immigration chief

PETALING JAYA: The newly formed Skuad Sukarelawan Putra, which aims to help authorities catch illegal immigrants, is neither authorised nor recognised by the authorities, says the Immigration Department director-general.

Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud said catching illegal immigrants was the duty of the relevant authorities based on the law.

“Under Section 51 of the Immigration Act 1959/63, only Immigration, police and Customs officers are authorised to make arrests, ” Khairul said.

“The department consistently and continuously conducts operations to catch illegal immigrants, including tourists who overstay.

“Between Jan 1 and Dec 24,17,328 operations were conducted, resulting in 50,715 illegals and 1,251 employers nabbed, ” he said in a statement on Thursday (Dec 26).

He called on the public to channel relevant information on illegal immigrants to the department so that action could be taken.

Skuad Sukarelawan Putra or the Putra Voluntary Squad was set up by the relatively new political party Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra), whose president is Datuk Ibrahim Ali, founder of the Malay-rights group Perkasa.

Putra has said it wants to deploy 1,300 volunteers nationwide to “assist” the authorities in catching illegal immigrants.

Malaysiakini quoted Putra deputy president Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz as saying that they had written to Immigration’s Khairul in an effort to set up a meeting, adding that they were still waiting for a response.