KUALA LUMPUR: A man’s frantic attempt to disguise himself and blend in with media and enforcement officers in a bid to avoid detection was among the incidents during raids conducted by the Malaysian Immigration Department (JIM) in Chow Kit and Sentul early today.
The man was apprehended at a hotel in Chow Kit, a location suspected to be a hideout for illegal immigrants. In a state of panic, he kneeled and pleaded for his release, insisting he had valid documents to stay in the country.
A similar fate befell a woman who attempted to escape when her friend failed to open the hotel room door, despite her desperate cries for help from outside.
Both the man and woman were among 32 illegal immigrants detained for not having valid travel documents and overstaying in the country.
Kuala Lumpur JIM Director Wan Mohammed Saupee Wan Yusoff said the raid was the culmination of two weeks of intelligence gathering, focusing on several known hotspots across the capital.
“In the first raid conducted at a hotel in Chow Kit, believed to be occupied by illegal immigrants, a total of 22 individuals were arrested. The group included two men and nine Indonesian women, four Pakistani men, five Bangladeshi men, and two Thai women.
“In the second operation, which targeted four shophouses in Sentul, authorities detained three Indonesian women, three Indian men, two Nepalese men, one Myanmar national, and one Pakistani,” he said Kuala Lumpur Immigration Department Director Wan Mohammed Saupee Wan Yusoff when contacted.
He added that those arrested were aged between 15 and 45, with most working in low-wage sectors such as hotel services, laundry, catering, and snooker game outlets.
They are being investigated under Section 6(1)(c) and Section 15(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 for not having valid travel documents and overstaying in the country.
