BATU PAHAT: Twenty-four undocumented migrants have been detained in four operations here.
Johor Immigration Department director Datuk Mohd Rusdi Mohd Darus said the operations, codenamed Ops Sapu, Ops Selera, Ops Minyak and Ops Ajar, were conducted simultaneously from 8pm on Tuesday (April 7).
He said the operations involved officers from the Batu Pahat Immigration Enforcement Division, with 11 business premises inspected.
"The businesses were food outlets and tyre shops hiring and harbouring foreigners without valid travel documents and work permits," he said in a statement on Friday (April 10).
He said the operations were carried out to address the presence of illegal workers in Batu Pahat district for violating the Immigration Act 1959/63 and Immigration Regulations 1963.
He said the 24 detainees were aged 20 to 45 and comprised seven Bangladeshi men, three Myanmar men, two Nepalese men, two Indonesian men, one Vietnamese woman, five Myanmar women, one Bangladeshi woman, one Indonesian woman and two Cambodian women.
Rusdi said they are being investigated under Regulation 39(b) of the Immigration Regulations, ans Sections 6(1)(c) and 16(1)(c) of the Immigration Act.
"They have been placed at the Setia Tropika Immigration Depot in Johor Baru for further action," he said, adding that six summonses were issued to witnesses during the operations to help with investigations.
