News Desk :
The immigration department of Malaysia has detained 309 undocumented migrant workers including 102 Bangladeshis.
As many as 715 individuals were inspected during an integrated operation carried out at the settlement near a construction site in Dengkil, early Monday morning, reports Malaysian news agency Bernama.
.Those detained comprised 280 men and 29 women, aged between 20 and 50, of various nationalities – Indonesians (193), Bangladeshis (102), Vietnamese (four), Indians (two) and Myanmar nationals (eight).
Immigration director-general Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud said his department had received information from members of the public who claimed that there were individuals at the settlement who were believed to have violated the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of the movement control order (MCO).
He said, as a result, the department had raided the area and found that they did not comply with the MCO SOPs as prescribed. “I arrived with the operations team and found that their settlement was so dense, dirty and did not have a proper drainage system, apart from having a place to gather and eat in large numbers.
“They also admitted that they lived in a group in one room, which is about four to seven people,” he told reporters at the scene. Khairul Dzaimee said this showed that they were free to do anything at the construction site without any compliance with the MCO SOPs.
He said this was the main purpose of the home ministry which directed the immigration department to help reduce positive cases of the Covid-19 outbreak at the workplace comprising immigrants.
He also explained how Indonesian women sneaked into the country, by having their husbands entering Malaysia to work first and then these women would follow their spouses using social visit pass.
“Indonesian women enter Malaysia using a social visit pass and continue to reside in the country beyond the stipulated time. In addition, they will live with their husbands who work illegally in the country.
