JOHOR BARU: Sixty-six undocumented immigrants were detained during a raid at an entertainment outlet that opened only six months ago near here.
Johor Immigration Department director Datuk Mohd Rusdi Mohd Darus said the operation, codenamed Ops Gegar, took place on Tuesday (Feb 10) at 10pm.
“The outlet has been on our radar for two weeks following information gathered from the public and our investigation,’’ he said in a statement.
Mohd Rusdi said the detainees were two Vietnamese males, two Indonesian men, five Indian nationals, a Filipino male, two Indonesian women, a Vietnamese female, a mainland China woman, five females from Laos and 47 Thai women.
“We believe all the women were hired to entertain the outlet’s patrons,’’ he said, adding that those detained were aged 21 to 51.
Mohd Rusdi said the department also arrested a 38-year-old Malaysian man, who was the outlet’s manager.
He said the foreigners were arrested 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 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).
“All of them are being placed at the Setia Tropika Immigration Depot here to assist with the investigation,’’ he said.
