KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — Eight Chinese nationals linked to an online scam operating at a leading hotel here have been declared persona non grata, said Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Saiful Azly Kamaruddin.

They are the first group of foreigners involved in online scam cases to be declared as such.

Saiful Azly said the eight criminals were declared persona non grata on Dec 8 after they were convicted on November 4.

He said the process for action on the remaining 11 individuals, including a baby, was still ongoing.

Persona non grata is a person who is prohibited from entering a country after being found guilty of committing a serious criminal offence that cannot be pardoned while he or she is in the country.

"All of them who are in their 20s to 40s were arrested during police operations from October 22 to November 8,” he said at a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur contingent police headquarters here.

He said the police believed the syndicate had been operating between six months and a year and often changed its operation centre.

"The police also confiscated 34 units of mobile phones of various brands, two laptops, cash of various currencies amounting to RM214,596 and a multi-purpose Vellfire vehicle,” he said.

Last Sunday, Immigration director-general Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud was reported to have said that foreigners found involved in and convicted of criminal offences would be declared as persona non grata.

The rule, he said, would apply to all foreigners who committed offences under the Immigration Act (1959) regardless of the type of visit pass they had.

Yesterday, the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador said the police would refer foreign criminals convicted in court, especially the head of scams and vice syndicates, to the Immigration Department for such action. — Bernama