JOHOR BARU: Twenty-nine illegal immigrant workers were detained in an integrated operation at several strategic locations within the Johor Baru city on Monday (Nov 24).
The operation, codenamed Ops Gegar, Ops Selera, Ops Mahir and Ops Sapu, started at 11am Monday (Nov 24) and was carried out by the Johor Immigration Department.
Johor Immigration director Datuk Mohd Rusdi Mohd Darus said the operation focused on commercial areas, construction sites, food outlets and hotels.
“The hotels had been turned into places offering sexual services and customers were being charged RM260 each for the session," he said in a statement Tuesday (Nov 25).
Mohd Rusdi said the operation was conducted following complaints received from the public and the department's intelligence surveillance.
He said the foreigners were nabbed for committing several offences including working without work permits and not having valid documents to stay in the country.
Mohd Rusdi said the illegal immigrants had committed offences under the Regulation 39(b) of the Immigration Regulations 1963, Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 (Act 155) and Section 15(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 (Act 155).
He said the 29 immigrants detained were two Myanmar males, two Myanmar women, 13 Indonesian men and eight Indonesian women.
“Other detainees were four women from Laos, allegedly involved in the commercial sex activities,’’ Mohd Rusdi said, adding those detained were aged between 22 and 52 years old.
He said all of them are being placed at the Setia Tropika Immigration Depot here to assist with investigations.
