KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 17 — A total of 217 foreign nationals were detained by the Malaysian Immigration Department (JIM) during enforcement operations conducted today at two shopping malls frequented by foreigners in the capital and Ampang.
Immigration Deputy Director-General (Operations) Datuk Lokman Effendi Ramli said the three-hour operation at Plaza Kotaraya in Pudu and Galaxy Ampang Mall in Ampang Jaya involved 120 JIM officers and personnel, supported by 13 officers from the National Registration Department.
He said that at Plaza Kotaraya, 652 foreign nationals were inspected, with 65 arrested for various immigration offences.
“At the second location, 394 foreign nationals were checked, and 152 were detained for similar offences,” he told reporters after the operations concluded.
Lokman Effendi added that those arrested were aged between 21 and 63, comprising 55 men and 162 women.
He said the detained foreign nationals comprised 89 Myanmar nationals, 60 Indonesians, 51 Filipinos, five Indians, five Nepalese, three Bangladeshis, two Pakistanis, and one each from Nigeria and Germany.
All those detained were sent to the Beranang Immigration Detention Depot and Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) for further action, with the cases investigated under the Immigration Act 1959/63, the Passport Act 1966, the Immigration Regulations 1963, as well as the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007.
Meanwhile, Lokman Effendi said that from Jan 1 to 15, the department carried out 504 enforcement operations nationwide, resulting in the detention of 1,759 foreign nationals for various immigration offences.
“A total of 35 employers were also detained during this period,” he said. — Bernama
