19 Bangladeshi undocumented migrants held in Malaysia

Malaysian immigration department in Johor detained a total of 137 illegal immigrants of various nationalities, including 19 Bangladeshis, during an operation at a construction site in Johor Baru of the country today.

Director Baharuddin Tahir said that the operation was carried out in Jaya Putra around 12:38am (Malaysia time) today.

"The department carried out the operation following public information about the presence of many immigrants in the area.

"In the operation, these immigrants were living inside 12 'rumah kongsi,' which have more than 200 rooms that were inspected by our enforcement personnel," he said in a statement here on Friday.

Baharuddin added some 219 immigrants and one local were inspected and 137 of them have committed offences under various immigration offences.

He said among those that had been detained included 98 Indonesians including 17 women, 19 Bangladeshis, 16 Myanmar nationals including two women, two Vietnamese nationals including a woman, and two Pakistanis.

Baharuddin added all of those detained were between 18 and 55 years old and were currently being placed at Setia Tropika Immigration Depot for further investigations.

Copyright: The Star/ Asia News Network