Over 500 illegals held in crackdown

SEPANG: Over 500 illegal immigrants were detained during the Immigration Depart­ment’s crackdown following the end of the 3+1 amnesty programme.

Over 4,000 foreigners had their documents inspected during the Ops Mega 3.0 operation, which started at the stroke of midnight on Friday.

Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said immigration personnel raided several locations all over the country.

“As mentioned before, there will be no extension to the amnesty programme.

“Prior to that, we even had the rehiring programme (which ended on June 30). Now it is all-out enforcement,” he told reporters after checks were conducted at a glove factory in Sepang yesterday.

Between 2014 and Aug 28 this year, more than 800,000 illegal immigrants signed up for the amnesty programme and returned to their home countries, Mustafar added.

He said that more than 1,500 foreign workers were checked at the glove factory.

“While the operation went smoothly, a female Immigration personnel suffered injury while chasing some foreign workers.

“Immigration personnel work day and night to enforce the law, often at their own risk,” said Mustafar, who later visited her at the Putrajaya Hospital.

Between Jan 1 and Aug 30, the department conducted 9,715 enforcement operations.

More than 29,000 illegal immigrants and 880 employers were detained during this period.

Separately, Mustafar said permit delays for foreign workers were due to some employers’ failure to submit all the required documents, which slowed down the process.

He pointed out that the application process was conducted online for the convenience of employers.

“If employers want their workers fast, they have to ensure that they submit complete documents,” he said.

On Thursday, The Star reported that massive operations to nab illegal immigrants would begin after the end of the amnesty programme.

The amnesty, which previously allowed illegal immigrants to pay a RM300 fine and RM100 for a special pass that allowed them to return to their respective countries, ended on Thursday.- Star