KUALA LUMPUR: The Immigration Department has nabbed 54 foreigners, 43 of them women, following raids on three massage parlours in Johor Baru.
The raids, conducted at about 6pm on Wednesday (Sept 17), also saw the arrests of three local men who were caretakers for the three premises.
"A total of 115 people were screened, resulting in the arrest of locals and foreigners for various immigration offences," said Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban in a statement on Thursday (Sept 18).
He said the foreigners detained included one Indonesian man, five Myanmar men, two Bangladeshi men, one Chinese national, 32 Thai women, one Myanmar woman, one Vietnamese woman, one Laotian woman and eight Chinese women, aged from 19 to 59, believed to be working as masseuses," he said.
All detainees were found to have committed offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63 and Immigration Regulations 1963, he added.
"They have been placed at the Setia Tropika Immigration Depot for further investigations. "Fifteen witness summonses were also issued during the operation," he said.
Zakaria also expressed gratitude to the public for providing information.
"We urged continued cooperation in reporting cases of harbouring illegal immigrants, human trafficking and migrant smuggling," he said.
The operation, which involved 47 officers from Putrajaya and Johor, was led by Immigration enforcement division director Basri Othman.
