Man’s bid to outsmart Immigration falls flat
PETALING JAYA: An illegal immigrant hoping to avoid arrest by claiming to be a local during a raid on an apartment complex here was exposed after failing to sing the national anthem, Negaraku.
The male suspect, in his 30s, was among 597 illegal immigrants detained for various immigration offences during checks on 1,597 foreigners in a raid that began at 9pm on Thursday.
Immigration deputy director-general (Operations) Jafri Embok Taha said a large-scale operation was conducted.
“All those detained, comprising 472 males and 125 females, are aged between 11 and 59,” he told reporters after the operation at Mentari Court, Bernama reported.
He said the raid was carried out following two weeks of intelligence gathering after receiving public complaints about foreigners living in the area.
Crackdown: Detained immigrants lining up before being loaded on trucks after the raid at Mentari Court in Petaling Jaya. — Bernama
Apart from pretending to be locals, some foreigners detained during the raid risked their lives by attempting to jump from the fifth floor but were stopped by officers.
Jafri said among the offences were not having identification documents, overstaying, holding unrecognised cards, as well as other violations of the Immigration Act 1959/63, the Passport Act 1966 and the Immigration Regulations 1963.
He added that all those detained were taken to the Immigration Detention Depot in Semenyih for further investigation.
Jafri said initial investigations revealed that some locals had rented out their units in the apartment to illegal immigrants.
“It is learnt that the rental rate for a house ranges from RM1,100 to RM1,300, while some houses have been modified with partitions and rented out at RM280 per room,” he said.
