156 immigrants nabbed in raid at Cyberjaya settlement

 

The Immigration Department detained 156 immigrants during an integrated operation at an illegal settlement in Cyberjaya last night.

Its director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud said in the 11pm operation, 202 immigrants from Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, and India, including 12 women and two children were checked, according to Bernama.

He said the individuals who were checked ranged in age from below four to 50 years.

He said 156 of them were detained for not having valid travel and identification documents before being taken to the Immigration Department's screening centre in Putrajaya for further action.

He said the raid on the settlement, which has access to water supply and electricity through illegal connections, was carried out in collaboration with the police, the Malaysian Civil Defence Force, and the National Registration Department after three months of intelligence.

“This illegal settlement has the potential of spreading Covid-19 infections as it fails to comply with the stipulated standard operating procedures under the movement control order (MCO)," he was quoted as saying last night.

When contacted, rights group North-South Initiative director Adrian Pereira insisted such raids have no significant impact on stopping trafficking and smugglers.

"For each of those detained, there will be a whole chain of actors responsible for causing these migrants to not have documentation.

"The immigration department should go after the masterminds involved if it is serious about solving this issue in the long term," he said.

Commenting on a BernamaTV video of the raid, Pereira noted how several officers were seen chasing the workers and later spraying those arrested with an unidentified substance.

When contacted, Khairul Dzaimee told Malaysiakini the substance in question was merely a disinfecting solution.

"It's just Dettol, for disinfection.

"Even the Immigration officers were sprayed, including me," he told Malaysiakini.

Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin recently courted criticism over the latest round of crackdown on undocumented migrants, launched in conjunction with the current "total lockdown" effective from June 1 to June 14.

Responding to his critics, Hamzah on Thursday said it would be impossible to administer Covid-19 vaccines on undocumented migrants and the operations were intended to "assist" them to register for a valid document, get vaccinated, and later given an option to leave or legally work here.

In another development, Khairul Dzaimee denied allegations that the Immigration Department only took action against undocumented immigrants, but not their employers.

“The claims are untrue because, in 2019, 1,059 employers were charged in court with various offences under the Immigration Act, involving a total fine of RM19.3 million,” he was quoted as saying by Bernama.

He said last year, 130 employers were brought to court, involving a total fine of more than RM10 million.

As of last month, 130 employers were slapped with fines amounting to RM3.2 million, he added. - Mkini