PETALING JAYA, July 13 ― More than 30 illegal immigrants were nabbed by authorities, on land and water, in two separate specialised operations over the last two days. 

The Kuala Lumpur Immigration Department had the biggest haul through “Ops Sayang”, which targets female foreign guest relations officers (GROs). 

Thirty-four illegal immigrants were detained in its operations on Thursday and Friday night.

Its head of enforcement division, James Musa Singa, said his team detained 14 Chinese nationals, six Indonesians and four Myanmars in the raid conducted by a 26-man team at the Berlian Food Court in south Jinjang at 11.15pm on Friday. 

“They are from 19 to 52 years old, operating around the stalls within the food court,” he said.

On Thursday, there were three raids conducted by 20 personnel from 3pm to 4.30pm at two reflexology centres and a massage parlour.

“All the premises were in Kepong. Ten female foreigners were detained. They are mostly Chinese nationals, Thais and Cambodians.”

He said the cases were investigated under Section 6(1)(c) and Section 15(1)(C) of the Immigration Act 1959/63, as well as Rule 39(b) of the Immigration Rules and Regulations 1963.

All the detainees were brought to the Immigration Detention Depot at the Home Ministry complex in Jalan Duta for further processing.

At sea, personnel from the Klang headquarters of the Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) detained four illegal immigrants, including a boat navigator, who were in a vessel enroute to Morib on Friday night, under “Ops Tumpas”.

The four Indonesian men, aged from 30 to 42, were onboard an unregistered fibreglass boat believed to have departed either from Dumai or Belangkas Island in Indonesia. The boat was detected by MMEA 2.8 nautical miles from Morib beach at 11.25pm.

Klang MMEA district enforcement head Capt Mohd Aliyas Hamdan said it was detected through the agency’s maritime sea control system.

“Four personnel on a patrol boat were dispatched to the scene and managed to catch up with the blue boat. However, it sped away even after our men identified themselves and asked them to stop for inspection,” he said.

The MMEA boat gave chase and overtook the intruders. A collision occured during which the boat navigator injured his right hand.

“Only the navigator had his Indonesian passport while the other three had no identification documents. The three passengers were sent to the Klang district maritime jetty for further processing. The injured man was sent to the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital for treatment,” Mohd Aliyas said.