KUALA LUMPUR: An Immigration Department operation in a shopping mall here saw 46 suspected illegal immigrants caught.
The operation saw around 50 Immigration officers raid multiple shops in the shopping mall along Jalan Imbi simultaneously on Monday (March 25) at 2pm.
Most were manicure shops that had allegedly hired illegal immigrants as store workers.
Immigration deputy director-general (operations) Jafri Embok Taha, when met at the operation scene, said that multiple complaints had been lodged to the department previously, adding the shopping mall was among the 20 "hotspots" that had been flagged.
"A week's worth of surveillance was conducted, leading to a total of 53 people being inspected. Four employers, all Malaysians, in addition to the 46 suspected illegal immigrants, were also detained.
"They will be brought to the department’s headquarters for processing and will be released if they have valid documents," he said.
Meanwhile, 19 summons were issued to summon witnesses to the department to record their statements.
“Many employees hold their workers’ passports. Hence, the department would contact them directly to bring said documents to assist investigations,” he said.
