KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 71 illegal immigrants were rounded up by the Immigration Department (JIM) in a raid on a 30-year old apartment which has became a colony in Jalan Changkat Bukit Bintang, here, this afternoon.
Kuala Lumpur JIM director Wan Mohamed Saupee Wan Yusoff said the joint raid with Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) was carried out following complaints from residents of the apartment.
“The raid found that foreigners were living in apartment units that had been renovated so that 20 individuals could be squeezing in a unit and such units are also very unfit for occupation due to the poor level of cleanliness, leaking pipes and unpleasant odour.
“So the integrated operation of the KL Strike Force raided the six-storey building housing 30 residential units at 12 noon today after intelligence monitoring for two weeks,“ he told reporters at the apartment after the operation.
Wan Mohamed Saupee said those arrested consisted of 57 men and 14 women aged between one year and 56 years old from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Indonesia, and Thailand.
“Owners of units rented out to foreigners have also been identified and will be contacted and investigated for harbouring illegal immigrants,“ he said.
Meanwhile, DBKL Development Technical Division head Azmi Mohd Saaid said his side had demolished the construction of walls without approval in 27 apartment units rented to foreigners in today’s operation.
“This building is not closed because the structure is still safe for occupation but DBKL will give a notice to the joint management committee and unit owners about the offences committed and instruct them to clean up the apartment area,“ he said.
On the odour problem. Azmi said the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleaning Corporation (SWCorp) had tried to deal with it before but the problem continued because foreign residents were throwing rubbish in the wrong place.
The case is investigated under the Immigration Act 1959/63 and those detained were taken to the Kuala Lumpur Immigration headquarters for further investigation.
Meanwhile, a survey found that apartment units rented to foreigners were modified from three to six rooms with rental prices as low as RM100 per person and RM300 to RM600 for a room.
A local resident of the apartment, Nurul Nizam Azhar, 41, said that even though the apartment smelled bad and was in a bad condition, he decided to rent there since last year because of the cheap rent of about RM300 a month.
“The stench here (apartment) is so bad and it stings that whenever I go home. This apartment is already in bad condition, the leaking sewage system adds to the stench. The situation has become worse because many foreigners live here,“ he said.
