Malaysia arrests a Bangladeshi, seizes 85 passports in crackdown on illegal migrant workers

The Immigration Department of Malaysia has arrested a Bangladeshi national on charges of operating a rehire programme for undocumented foreign workers illegally.

It also seized 85 passports as well as cash of 16,600 Malaysian ringgit in a raid on a mini market that has been turned into an office for the illegal operations in Selangor last Wednesday, the local media reported, citing a statement of the department’s chief Mustafar Ali.

The mini-market, owned by a company, has been operating this re-hiring programme illegally for more than a year by charging between RM 5,500 and RM 8,000 each to register undocumented foreign workers, according to the statement.

“We advise anyone wishing to liaise with the Immigration Department regarding the recruitment of foreign workers to contact us directly without any agent or mediator for advisory services,” Mustafar said in the statement.

He advised the public to continue providing information related to illegals or any syndicates involving foreigners to help the department combat the problem.

The department intensified efforts to hunt down illegal immigrants through an operation codenamed "Ops Mega 3.0" by carrying out raids at places where there were concentration of foreigners in Subang Indah, Selangor.

A total of 113 illegal immigrants, mostly Bangladeshi citizens, including Indonesian and Pakistani nationals, had been arrested for various immigration-related offences in the four-hour operation that started on Wednesday evening, Mustafar said.

A total of 14 business premises at the Spectrum Bandar Sunway that became the focal point of foreigners were raided, he added.

Malaysia launched a re-hiring programme in February, 2016 to legalise unauthorised foreign workers.

After the programme ended on June 30 this year, Malaysian authorities are conducting operations against the illegal foreign workers who did not take the government’s re-hiring facilities.

In the ongoing crackdown, over 2,000 illegal foreign workers, including more than 500 Bangladeshis, have been arrested.