The Immigration Department of Malaysia on Saturday detained at least 500 undocumented migrants, including Bangladeshis, during a nationwide crackdown against ‘illegal’ immigrants.
More than 5,000 foreigners have been checked nationwide resulting in the arrests of over 500 illegals, reports the country’s national news agency Bernama citing Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali, director-general of the immigration department.
Mustafar said since January 1 until August 30, the Immigration Department had conducted 9,527 operations when 116,927 foreigners were inspected and 29,177 of them were arrested.
The undocumented migrants were from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan, Cambodia, China, Vietnam, India and Nepal, he added. It was not clear though how many Bangladeshis are there among the 500 held.”We are fulfilling our pledge that we will go all out to nab illegal immigrants after the expiry of the amnesty programme. There will not be an extension to the deadline,” he told reporters at a glove making factory in Sepang, after the operation.
“We have deployed all our enforcement personnel nationwide to ensure the success of the operations. We have given ample chances for illegal immigrants to come forward, through the rehiring programme and the amnesty programme. The whitening effort has ended and now it’s all out enforcement,” he said.
Meanwhile, a Bangladeshi man and a Malaysian female immigration officer were injured during a raid at a glove factory in Bandar Baru Salak Tinggi in Sepang.
Nur Erra Ellina Zaharudin, 24, was injured on the hip and leg in the 2 pm incident, but was reported in stable condition at the Putrajaya Hospital, said the director general.
The Bangladeshi man was injured after he fell in an attempt to escape arrest in the operation, he added.
Malaysian government has begun the crackdown after the end of an amnesty programme that had allowed the irregular migrant workers to return to their countries by paying fine worth Tk 8,000.
