JOHOR BARU, Jan 25 — The Johor Immigration Department rounded up 85 foreign migrants for failing to have proper working permits during a search operation on several factories in Senai, Johor yesterday.
Its director, Baharuddin Tahir said the operation, called Ops Mahir, is targeted at foreign migrants who do not possess proper travel documents or employment permits.
He said the raids started at 11am yesterday and involved 100 enforcement officers from the Johor Immigration Department.
“A component factory in Senai was raided and enforcement action was taken following public information that there were foreign migrants suspected of working without employment permits in the premises.
“During the operation, enforcement officers conducted checks on 328 foreigners.
“From the figure, a total of 69 Bangladeshi men, seven Indian men, four Sri Lankan men and a Myanmar couple, between the ages of 20 and 47, were arrested.
“The enforcement officers also managed to arrest a 42-year-old local woman to assist in the investigations,” he said in a statement today.
Baharuddin said the workers arrested were found to in breach of Section 6(1)(c) and Section 15(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 (Act 155) for not having valid passports or work permits and having overstayed respectively.
He said those arrested had also violated their passport’s conditions under Regulation 39(b) of the Immigration Regulations 1963.
On the arrest of the local woman, Baharuddin said she was detained under Section 56(1)(d) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 for protecting undocumented foreign migrants.
“The department issued two notices for the premise owners to appear at the Johor Immigration Department’s state office to assist investigations,” he said.
Baharuddin said the department also ran a similar operation at several food and sundry premises in Senai yesterday afternoon around 3.50pm, following claims about foreign workers without valid employment permits or passes in the area.
“The enforcement officers screened a total of 110 foreigners and locals. From the total, 40 were arrested for immigration offences.
“Those arrested consisted of nine men and 10 women from Indonesia, two men and nine women from Myanmar, six men from Bangladesh, two men from Pakistan, a man from Nepali and one man from India,” he said.
Baharuddin said those arrested were between the ages of 19 and 57 years and had committed offenses under Section 6(1)(c) and Section 15(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 (Act 155), in addition to being investigated under Regulation 39(b) of the Immigration Regulations 1963 for violating the conditions of their designated travel pass.
He said a woman from Myanmar was also detained under Section 55E of the Immigration Act 1959/63 for giving permission to a undocumented foreign migrant worker to be in the premises.
Since late last year, the Immigration Department has been active in clamping down on undocumented foreign migrants through several nationwide operations.
The operations also targeted foreign migrants who misuse their social visit passes by being employed without valid documents.