Report: 5 Malaysians detained as Australia probes foreign worker exploitation

 

Five Malaysian men in Perth have been detained by the Australian Border Force (ABF) over their suspected involvement in a foreign worker exploitation syndicate within the construction industry.

The detention of the five men, all of whom were living in Australia illegally, was reported by Perth's leading newspaper The West Australian.

The men were arrested during a series of nation-wide Operation Battenrun raids which targeted labour firms for exploiting vulnerable foreign workers and undocumented migrants.

ABF officers found three of the men, aged 50, 51 and 64, at a residence in Embleton, a northeastern suburb of Perth on Dec 17.

On Dec 10, a 52-year-old man was detained at a home in Dianella while a fifth Malaysian, aged 46, was detained at a commercial property in Beckenham.

Dianella and Beckenham are also suburbs of Perth.

The West Australian reported that the 52-year-old had already been deported back to Malaysia, while the other four are in immigration detention pending their departure from Australia.

“We are always on the lookout for cases of foreign workers being underpaid, deprived of entitlements, and treated poorly.

“The ABF will not tolerate those people who are making significant profits by exploiting foreign workers," said ABF Commander Operations West James Copeman.

Malaysiakini is contacting the police and Immigration Department for further comment.

The West Australian, widely known as The West, is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia.

It is the second-oldest continuously produced newspaper in Australia after the Sydney Morning Herald, having been published since 1833. - Mkini