At least 225 Bangladeshis were detained by the Malaysian authorities on the first day of a nationwide crackdown on illegal foreign workers residing in the country, a local daily reports.
Malaysian law enforcers picked up at least 1,565 illegal expatriates including the Bangladeshis in the operation–Ops Sepadu– that started early yesterday, reports The Star.
The rest of the detainees, arrested in 107 operations nationwide, are the nationals of Cambodia, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, China, Nigeria and Thailand.
Meanwhile, Malaysian national news agency BERNAMA reports that illegal immigrants detained under Phase 2 of the 6P Integrated Operation will have their identity recorded in the biometric database system to prevent their re-entry into Malaysia.
The agency, quoting Malaysian Home Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, also reports that all illegal immigrants arrested in the crackdown, would be deported to their respective countries of origin within seven days.
“The detainees’ repatriation cost will not be borne by the Malaysian government, but by their employers or the respective foreign embassies,” Zahid Hamidi said.
“The operation carried out with the relevant enforcement agencies will continue until the year-end to detect, detain, charge and deport foreign illegals,” Hamidi added.
According to the national news agency, the illegal migrants were detained under the Immigration Act 1959/63, Passport Act 1966, Immigration Regulations 1963 and Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 (Amended 2010).
Some 2,015 personnel from various agencies including the Immigration Department, Rela, police, Civil Defence Department, National Registration Department and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission took part in the drive.
Earlier on Sunday, a source at Bangladesh high commission in Kuala Lumpur said that the Malaysian police would raid work places of the migrants and their residences to detain illegal foreigners staying without valid documents.
Expatriate Welfare Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain has already said “Bangladeshi nationals working in Malaysia without valid documents will not be provided with any legal assistance as they did not legalise their papers despite receiving multiple chances”.
The ministry is not going to allow some illegal expatriate workers to tarnish the country’s image, he added.
About 600,000 Bangladeshi workers currently live in Malaysia.
The Malaysian government has declared amnesty for Bangladeshi workers in five phases since 2011 to legalise their papers. However, around 35,000 Bangladeshis have failed to come under that amnesty programme.
Despite warning of stern action by the Malaysian government, some manpower recruiting agencies still continue to send Bangladeshi workers to the country with tourist visa.
On September 02 last year, the Malaysian government, in a similar crackdown, arrested 2,433 illegal immigrants, including 387 Bangladeshis.
Courtesy of The Independent
