KLANG, Feb 22 (Bernama) -- Fearing arrest, a handful of foreigners used 'guerrilla tactics' to avoid arrest by the Immigration Department (JIM) in an enforcement operation at the Meru Market Complex, Klang early this morning.
A Bernama observation of the operation which began at 5.30 am this morning saw some foreigners crawling into narrow drains to hide while some climbed to the roof of shops to avoid being detected by the authorities.
JIM deputy director-general (Operations) Jafri Embok Taha said in the operation which began at 5.30 am this morning, a total of 598 foreigners were arrested out of 630 individuals inspected, all of whom were aged between 17 and 57 years old.
He said that some of the foreigners involved claimed they are United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) cardholders to avoid arrest.
"In today's operation, JIM inspected 530 Myanmar, Bangladesh (85), Indonesian (7), Indian (5), and one Nepali and all of them will be placed at the Semenyih Immigration Depot for investigation and follow-up action.
"Among the offences identified were not having identification documents, violating pass conditions, overstaying, unrecognised card holders and other offences that violate the Immigration Act," he said at a press conference after the operation ended at about 7am today.
Also present at the operation today were Selangor Immigration director Khairrul Aminus Kamaruddin and the mayor of Klang Royal City Council (MBDK) Datuk Abd Hamid Hussain, involving a total of 153 officers from the Immigration, General Operations Force (GOF), MBDK and the National Registration Department (JPN).
Jafri said his party would carry out continuous enforcement operations to detect, arrest, prosecute and deport foreign nationals who violate provisions under the Act Immigration, Passport Act 1966 and Immigration Regulations 1963; and Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007
Meanwhile, Abd Hamid said from his party's initial inspection in today, it is believed that almost 50 per cent of the total 600 lots licensed by MBDK are rented out to foreigners.
He said that for that, his party will immediately carry out further inspections to identify the actual number of lots involved to ensure that the facilities are not misused.
"We are aware that the facilities provided by MBDK are rented out at a cheap price, so if someone practices 'Ali Baba', they may rent them out to foreigners at an expensive price.
"In terms of policy, we can cancel the lot rental to them and the license to the owner...when we identify them in our follow-up checks and they will also be blacklisted," he said.
-- BERNAMA
