PETALING JAYA: A total of 63 foreign nationals and two Malaysians were detained in a raid by the Immigration Department at an entertainment and karaoke centre operating at the One Puchong Trade Centre, which provided foreign women as “companions” for its customers.
The raid was conducted on Aug 26 at 9:15pm with a task force of 25 officers from the Enforcement Division.
Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said the foreign women were offered to customers at rates ranging from RM150 to RM300 for the first three hours.
“When the raid took place, most of them were entertaining local customers.“
The 65 individuals detained consisted of 16 male Myanmar nationals working as bartenders, 18 Thai, 17 Vietnamese, two Indonesian, six Laotian and four Filipino women aged between 20 and 55. They were detained for various immigration offences.
He added that one Malaysian man who was also arrested that night admitted to being the caretaker of the entertainment centre, while the local woman who was detained was found to be responsible for overseeing the foreign women.
“The modus operandi of this karaoke and entertainment centre was exposed when it was found to offer foreign women as ‘companions’ to customers, becoming a major attraction from 7pm to 3am daily.
“The premises operated in a vibrant environment with loud music that kept patrons entertained.”
All detained foreign nationals were sent to the Lenggeng Immigration Detention Depot for further investigation and action.
In an earlier operation, the department conducted a raid on a recycling factory employing foreign workers without valid passes in an industrial area in Shah Alam at 2.35pm.
Zakaria said the operation was carried out following public complaints and two weeks of intelligence gathering.
“A total of 49 officers of various ranks were deployed to the location and inspected 53 individuals comprising 50 foreign nationals and three Malaysians.”
“As a result of the inspection, 36 Bangladeshi nationals aged between 35 and 50 were detained for suspected offences under Section 6(1)(c) and Section 15(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 (Act 155), and Regulation 39(b) of the Immigration Regulations 1963.”
He also said among the offences committed by those detained were the misuse of visit passes and not possessing valid travel documents.
“All individuals detained have been placed at the KLIA Immigration Depot and investigations, as well as further action, will be taken under Act 155 and the Immigration Regulations 1963.”
