Bidor breakout: Remaining 30 escapees hiding among own community

PUTRAJAYA; The Immigration Department is still hunting for the remaining 30 illegal immigrants still at large after escaping from the Bidor Immigration depot in Perak on Feb 1.

Immigration director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said all 30 are believed to be still in Perak and may have found safety in numbers hiding among their own community.

"We are still tracking the remaining 30 illegal immigrants and believe they are already (embedded) in their communities. We are carrying out operations in areas where foreigners, especially the Rohingya, are staying.

"Every time an operation is carried out in a foreigner settlement, fingerprint checks are also done. It it is also difficult to do facial recognition," he told Bernama in a special interview here on Tuesday (Feb 27).

On Feb 1, a total of 131 illegal immigrants escaped from the male block of the detention depot and two died in road accidents.

Of the total number who escaped, 115 were Rohingya, 15 Myanmar nationals and one Bangladeshi national.

Asked about the operational status of the Bidor Immigration depot, Ruslin said it was still closed they were in the final process of getting a report and recommendations for the depot's future.

He said the Office of the Chief Government Security Officer (CGSO) and other enforcement agencies had also visited the depot.

"These will be used as the basis for our recommendations to the Home Ministry in March. We will make the Bidor case an action-oriented one to improve safety aspects which will be expanded to other depots if needed," said Ruslin.

After the break-out, a total of 435 illegal immigrants from the Bidor depot were transferred to six detention depots including Machap in Melaka, Lenggeng in Negri Sembilan, Bukit Jalil in Kuala Lumpur, Kemayan in Pahang and Langkap in Perak. – Bernama