JOHOR BARU: Police detained 222 people, including 209 foreign women working as guest relations officers (GROs), in raids on 12 entertainment outlets across Johor.
Johor police chief Datuk Comm Ab Rahaman Arsad said the raids were conducted between 2.15am and 9am on Sunday (Aug 9) under Ops Noda.
He said the 209 women, aged 19 to 40, comprised 93 Vietnamese, 87 Thais, 11 Laotians, seven Indonesians, six Myanmar nationals and five Filipinas.
“Police also detained 13 outlet caretakers, comprising 10 local men and three foreign men, aged between 20 and 53,” he said in a statement on Sunday (Aug 9).
Comm Ab Rahaman said preliminary urine screening found that 44 of those detained tested positive for drugs while seven of those detained had previous criminal and drug-related cases.
He added the cases are being investigated under several provisions, including Section 11(2) of the Johor Entertainment and Places of Entertainment Enactment 1998, the Immigration Act 1959/63, including Section 6(1)(c) for not possessing valid travel documents and Section 15(1)(c) for overstaying their passes.
Police are also investigating under Section 55B and Section 55E of the Immigration Act and under Regulation 39(b) of the Immigration Regulations 1959/63 for misuse of social visit passes.
Comm Ab Rahaman said the 13 outlet caretakers and the 209 foreign nationals had been remanded and detained for further investigations.
He added the state police would take firm action against entertainment premises found to have breached their licensing conditions, including cancellation of their licences.
“Johor police will not compromise and remain committed to addressing issues involving public safety and order to ensure the harmony and well-being of the people in the state,” he said.
Comm Ab Rahaman also urged members of the public to continue providing information on criminal activities to the Johor police hotline at 019-2792095 or the operations room at 07-2212999.
He said cooperation from the public was important to ensure efforts to curb criminal activities could be carried out effectively.
