KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Immigration Department (JIM) raided an entertainment centre in Jalan Loke Yew here last night and arrested 164 illegal immigrants.
The entertainment centre, which is located inside a shopping mall, is alleged to offer foreign guest relations officers (GROs) to customers for a fee ranging from RM1,000 to RM100,000.
Several women attempted to escape when the raiding party entered the premises, causing some of them to fall and injure themselves.
A search by the JIM team found some of them hiding in toilets and a storeroom.
Kuala Lumpur JIM director Wan Mohamed Saupee Wan Yusoff said the 164 illegal immigrants arrested in the raid which started at 11.45 pm yesterday and ended at 1.30 am today, were between 21 and 60 years old.
They comprised 114 Thai nationals, including a man; 12 Vietnamese; a woman from Laos, a Filipino woman, 27 Bangladeshi men and nine Chinese nationals, two of them women, he told reporters after the raid early today.
He said they were arrested for various offences under the Immigration Act 1963,
Some of the women are holders of Long-Term Social Visit Passes or Spouse Passes, but they do not know where their husbands are, he said, adding that the owner of the premises and four caretakers were also arrested for allegedly employing and harbouring illegal immigrants.
Wan Mohamed Saupee said the raid was conducted following two weeks of intelligence over complaints from the public of drunk customers from the entertainment centre creating a nuisance, including fighting, in the surrounding area., including fighting.
Also involved in the raid were officers from the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission.
Meanwhile, in another operation, conducted at 10 pm yesterday at Jalan Bukit Bintang and Jalan Alor here, Wan Mohamed Saupee said 17 foreigners for carrying out hawking activities in the area.
He said they comprised eight Bangladeshi men, two Nepalese men, four Pakistani men, a Vietnamese man, and two women, comprising an Indonesian and a Filipino.
He said the foreigners, aged between 20 and 30, would be sent to the Bukit Jalil Immigration Detention Depot for further action.
