JOHOR BARU: The Immigration Department has detained 514 illegal immigrants during pre-dawn operations codenamed Op Gegar and Op Sapu today.
Led by Immigration Department director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali, some 115 immigration officers from Putrajaya and Johor had conducted checks on 1,399 foreign workers at five massage parlours and two hostels at the Tebrau IV Industrial Area and Kota Tinggi. The operations started from midnight to about 4am.
Mustafar said the illegal immigrants- 490 men and 24 women from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, Myanmar, China, Thailand and India- were arrested for various offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63.
"Some of them were found to have overstayed and being investigated under Section 15(1)(c) of the Immigration Act.
"There are also those who are being investigated under Section 6(1)(c) of the same Act for not having a valid travel documents," he said, adding the detainees were taken to the Home Ministry Complex in Setia Tropika here.
On the department's rehiring programme, Mustafar said nearly 600,000 illegal immigrants had signed up for it. He added 150,000 of them had completed the rehiring programme process.
"I want to remind employers and foreign workers to quickly register for the programme before Dec 31 because the department will not extend the deadline.
For those who had registered for the Enforcement Card or E-Card programme, which ended on June 30, he said, they would have until Feb 15 next year to register for the rehiring programme.
Mustafar also warned employers against hiring illegal immigrants as they would face stern actions under the Immigration Act and could be fined for not less than RM10,000 and not more than RM50,000 or jailed for not more than 12 months or both for each illegal immigrants they had on their payroll.
Other actions that can be taken against the ‘stubborn’ employers include freezing of assets and bank accounts under the Anti-Money Laundering Act.