SEREMBAN, March 1 ― The police raided a residential area in Sikamat here, which is alleged to have been a settlement of foreigners, with the majority consisting of Rohingya ethnic groups, for nearly 20 years, in an integrated operation, yesterday.

Negeri Sembilan deputy police chief, Datuk Abd Khalid Othman, said that, in the four-hour operation, from 10pm, a total of 340 individuals were inspected, including 335 Myanmar nationals, Indonesians (three) and Bangladeshi (two).

He said that of the total, 29 individuals, aged four to 60, were detained under Sections 6 (1) (c) and 15 (1) (c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 for failing to produce valid documents (15 men, six women and three children) and overstaying (three men, two women).

“Those arrested will be taken to the Senawang Immigration Action Unit Office for further inspection, before being sent to the Lenggeng Immigration Detention Depot. This time the operation is more of a document inspection, in collaboration with the state Immigration Department and the Seremban City Council (MBS).

“This inspection is also based on public complaints, apart from aiming to expand control over foreigners. The Immigration Department did an inspection and informed us to carry out a large-scale operation,” he told reporters, after the operation here, early this morning.

He said that three compounds were also issued by MBS.

Abd Khalid also said that the residential area is a hotspot location which is the focus of foreigners, especially Rohingya, in this state, and monitoring will continue to be carried out to detect the possibility of other foreigners in other locations.

“Let's wait for the next two to three days. If you go to the town of Seremban now, it is a bit different as it used to be full of foreigners; now you can feel the presence of many locals, so this kind of operation may help solve the issue,” he said.

He also did not rule out the possibility that the dumping of foreigners at the location would threaten the safety of local residents living in the nearby area.

“We are not accusing, but the possibility exists, considering the issue of earning a living...people may be afraid; that's why we hope for the community's cooperation to inform us where the group lives,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said that the operation was also aimed at detecting if any remaining detainees escaped from the temporary Immigration depot in Bidor, Perak, last month, however, there was no sign of those escapees. ― Bernama