A total of 327 illegal immigrants were arrested during a large-scale joint operation led by the state Immigration Department, which targeted two construction sites in Pontian and city centre at Johor Bahru in Malaysia.
The five-hour-long operations, which concluded at 5:30 am on Saturday, were the result of a two-week intelligence-gathering effort that included the use of unarmed aerial surveillance. Immigration deputy director-general (operations) Jafri Embok Taha said preliminary information, including drone surveillance, showed that between 850 and 1,100 foreigners were housed in 130 containers converted into their accommodations.
The migrants scattered in panic upon hearing the approaching vehicles of the raiding party, comprising 130 men, including Immigration enforcement officers, the Civil Defence Force, the National Registration Department, People's Volunteer Corps (Rela), and the National Anti-Drugs Agency.
A total of 252 migrants were screened when the team raided the construction site in Pontian.
Of the total, 129 of them were found violating several regulations under the Immigration Act 1959/63 for overstaying, misusing their social visit pass by gaining employment, and had remained in the country without permits. Among those rounded up at the construction site included a 40-year-old Malaysian who claimed to be the translator to the 30 Chinese-nationals detained in the raid. He was detained for harbouring the migrants. Also detained at the same location included 84 Bangladeshis, five Indian-nationals, Indonesians, Myanmar-nationals and a Pakistani.
The team screened 725 migrants during the raid at the other construction site in the city centre. Of the total, 198 were detained after failing to produce valid documents to remain in the country. Among them was a man from Bangladesh who attempted to evade arrest. The Bangladeshi, in his 30s, tried to pass himself off as a Rohingya refugee by presenting a fake United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) card.
