500 ‘illegal’ migrants, including Bangladeshis, held in Malaysia

M Humayun Kabir: The Malaysian government on Saturday detained at least 500 undocumented migrants, including Bangladeshis.
The Immigration Department, in a nationwide crackdown against ‘illegal’ immigrants, checked more than 5,000 foreigners and made the arrests of over 500 illegal, reports UNB citing the report of the country’s national news agency Bernama.
Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali, director-general of the immigration department, said since January 1 until August 30, the Immigration Department had conducted 9,527 operations when 116,927 foreigners were inspected and 29,177 of them were arrested.
The undocumented migrants were from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan, Cambodia, China, Vietnam, India and Nepal, he added.
However, it was not clear that how many Bangladeshis were included among the 500 arrestees.
After the operation, he told reporters at a glove making factory in Sepang, “We are fulfilling our pledge that we will go all out to nab illegal immigrants after the expiry of the amnesty programme. There will not be an extension to the deadline.”
“We have deployed all our enforcement personnel nationwide to ensure the success of the operations. We have given ample chances for illegal immigrants to come forward, through the rehiring programme and the amnesty programme. The whitening effort has ended and now it’s all out enforcement,” he said.
During a raid at a glove factory in Bandar Baru Salak Tinggi in Sepang, a Bangladeshi man and a Malaysian female immigration officer were injured.
The Bangladeshi man was injured after he fell in an attempt to escape arrest in the operation, he added.
Malaysian government has begun the crackdown after the end of an amnesty programme that had allowed the irregular migrant workers to return to their countries by paying fine worth Tk 8,000.