PETALING JAYA: Anti-illegal migrant operations by the Immigration Department in three areas within Selangor led to the arrest of 37 people.
Immigration Department director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban, in a statement Tuesday (March 3), said that three operations were conducted on Monday (March 2) in Subang Jaya, Sepang and Klang.
The first in Subang Jaya led to the arrest of eight Chinese nationals, one man and seven women, for suspected abuse of social visit passes and failure to present valid travel documents.
"Preliminary investigations found that the warehouse was being used as a closed-door exhibition and sales center for health products, targeting foreign tourists of the same nationality. The activities were believed to be systematically organised, with estimated profits ranging from RM200,000 to RM400,000 per month," he said.
A second operation was conducted in Sepang where an additional six Chinese and 16 Myanmar nationals were detained for allegedly misusing their passes.
In the third operation, the department busted a migrant smuggling ring that was believed to have brought in Bangladeshis into the country before offering them employment.
"A Bangladeshi man in his 40s was detained for allegedly acting as the mastermind and main agent who arranged the migrants’ entry and movement from the national border to temporary accommodation locations before handing them over to specific employers for exploitation as laborers.
"Following the arrest, the operations team raided a vehicle spray-painting workshop that was being used as a temporary safe house to hide migrants who had recently arrived from the east coast of the peninsular. The migrants were believed to have been smuggled in through illegal entry points around the Malaysia–Thailand border," he said.
Three Bangladeshi men, aged between 21 and 45 years old, were rescued during the raid.
"Based on their statements, they were temporarily housed at the workshop before being sent to work in the construction sector, as promised by the agent. Police also detained three other Bangladeshi men aged between 34 and 38, after they were suspected of being syndicate members who acted as coordinating agents, transporters, and caretakers of the safe house,
"The Immigration Department of Malaysia reaffirms its commitment to intensifying focused and continuous enforcement operations against any parties violating the country’s immigration laws, including offenses related to pass misuse, employment without valid documents, as well as migrant smuggling and exploitation," he said.
