Johor Immigration officers nab foreigners, including a child, in Skudai for not having valid travel documents
JOHOR BARU, Jan 3 — The Immigration Department detained 28 foreigners, including a child, who were found without valid travel documents during an operation at several premises in Skudai near Iskandar Puteri in Johor early this morning.
Johor Immigration director Baharuddin Tahir said the raid, dubbed Ops Sapu (Hotspot), was initiated at 12.50am in response to public complaints about the influx of foreign residents in Skudai.
He said several teams of Johor Immigration enforcement officers raided several shophouse units that were popular with foreigners.
“Those detained were nine men and four women from Myanmar, five men, three women and a child from Indonesia and six men from Bangladesh.
“All of them were aged between 11 and 56,” he said in a statement.
Baharuddin said preliminary investigations revealed that the foreigners were renting living areas and small rooms for between RM450 to RM750 per month.
“Those detained will be investigated under Section 6(1)(c) and 15(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 for misusing their social visit passes and overstaying in Malaysia,” he said.
Baharuddin urged the public to continue passing information to the Johor Immigration Department on undocumented foreigners in their respective areas.
He said the department will not hesitate to take action against foreigners who flout the country’s immigration laws.
“We will ramp up immigration enforcement operations in the state against foreigners who flout the law,” he said, adding that this was also to avoid the concentration of undocumented foreigners in a particular residential area.
