IPOH: The Immigration Department detained 109 foreigners in two enforcement operations around the city from Saturday night until early Sunday morning (Oct 25).
The department’s deputy director-general (Operations), Datuk Lokman Effendi Ramli, said 34 women were detained under Ops Gegar at an entertainment centre and four massage centres, while 75 men were held at the Ipoh Wholesale Market.
He said both operations involved 66 personnel from the department’s Perak branch, the department’s Putrajaya Special Operations Intelligence Division and the police.
"Ops Gegar began at 9pm, with inspections conducted on 70 foreigners, while the operation at the Ipoh Wholesale Market began at 1.30am and involved checks on 77 foreigners," he told a press conference here on Sunday.
He said the foreigners detained at the Ipoh Wholesale Market comprised those from Myanmar, Bangladesh, Laos and Indonesia, while those held under Ops Gegar were from Thailand and Vietnam.
Lokman Effendi said they were detained on suspicion of committing various offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63 and the Immigration Regulations 1963, including not possessing valid travel documents, overstaying and misusing permits or passes issued to them.
"During the raid, the foreigners tried to flee… but we managed to detain them," he said, adding that five summonses were also issued to employers requiring them to appear before the Immigration enforcement division to assist in investigations.
In a separate development, Lokman Effendi said the department had conducted over 11,000 enforcement operations nationwide from Jan 1 until Sunday, involving inspections of nearly 150,000 foreign nationals.
He said over 66,000 foreigners were detained during that period, including over 41,000 arrested through enforcement operations, while over 24,000 were detained or handed over by other enforcement agencies at the country's entry points and through other operations.
He added that over 45,000 foreigners had been repatriated to their respective countries after action was taken against them, while the remainder are still undergoing further action by JIM and the relevant authorities. – Bernama
