JOHOR BARU: The Johor Immigration Department has detained 88 illegal immigrants including 36 female Thai nationals working as guest relation officers (GRO).
State director Datuk Mohd Rusdi Mohd Darus said that the department carried out three separate operations on Friday (Nov 8) and Saturday (Nov 9) around here and in Muar respectively.
“In the first case, the department carried out raids at two business premises in Taman Mount Austin here around 1.30am on Saturday morning.
“The raids were carried out as we believed that the two premises employed illegal immigrants including offering immoral activities to their patrons,” he said here on Monday (Nov 11).
Mohd Rusdi added that the raids at the two premises led the department to detain 43 foreigners including three locals for various offences.
“Early investigations so far found that the premises offered GRO service, where patrons could pay RM50 for a GRO to join them for drinks. Additionally, customers could pay upwards of RM800 for ‘other services’ from the GRO.
“Among those detained were 38 Thai nationals including 36 women, three male Myanmar nationals, a male Vietnamese and a male Laos national.
“We also arrested three male Malaysians who are the premises owners and guardian,” he said, adding that those arrested were aged between 19 and 52 years.
In the second case, Mohd Rusdi said a Palestinian man and a Singaporean man were among 23 immigrants detained during a raid involving eight premises in Taman Abad here at around 8.10pm on Friday night.
He added that the department carried out the operation following public complaints on the presence of immigrants carrying out businesses without licence or working without proper permits at the location.
“We detained seven Pakistani males, six Indonesians including three females, three Indian male nationals, four male Bangladeshis, a male Myanmar national, a Singaporean man and a Palestinian man.
“All of them are working at food stalls including the Singaporean man who is the waiter while the Palestinian man cooked shawarma,” he said, adding that those detained were aged between 20 and 53 years.
In the final operation, Mohd Rusdi said the department detained 19 illegal immigrants including three females in various locations around Muar on Friday.
He said those detained were six Bangladeshi nationals, 11 Myanmar nationals, one Indian national male and a female Indonesian aged between 23 and 50 years.
“The immigrants that have been detained in the three operations are believed to have committed many immigration offences including overstaying, misusing temporary working visit pass, misusing social visit pass, and not possessing any passes or permits to be in Malaysia,” he said.
Mohd Rusdi also said that the department would continue carrying out more operations throughout the state in curbing the presence of illegal immigrants in Johor.
