KUALA LUMPUR: The Immigration Department busted a homestay racket run by foreigners in a special operation carried out around Jalan Ipoh and Jalan Sultan Ismail here on Tuesday.
Immigration deputy director-general (Management) Ismail Mokhtar said in the operation, which began at 2.57 pm, 13 illegal immigrants aged between 24 and 40 were arrested for acting as ‘homestay agents.’
“Based on public information and intelligence gathered over two weeks, the operations team was organised to move to the location and arrested nine men and one woman from Bangladesh, one Indonesian man, as well as one woman each from India and the Philippines,” he said in a statement today.
Ismail stated that of the figure, three men and one woman from Bangladesh, the Indonesian man and the Indian woman, were suspected of committing offences under Regulation 39b of the Immigration Regulations 1963.
The rest were detained on suspicion of committing offences under Section 6(3) of the Immigration Act 1959/63. All of them were taken to the Putrajaya Immigration headquarters for further action.
Ismail stated that six local citizens and one Bangladeshi man were given notice to appear at the immigration office to assist with investigations.
“All the foreigners detained were managing the illegal homestay business in Malaysia by renting properties from local citizens.
“Customers place their bookings online, and these foreigners would manage the transactions. Rental charges range from RM80 to RM400 per night, depending on room size, and this homestay racket is believed to have been operating for a year,” he said.
According to Ismail, the operations team also seized copies of tenancy agreements, four Bangladeshi passports, one Indonesian and one Indian passport each, 48 (room) access cards, a laptop, three mobile phones, homestay guest information forms and cash totalling RM74,000 and USD2,160.
