KUALA LUMPUR: Six foreigners who entered the country illegally have been detained in an operation at Terminal Bas Bersepadu (TBS) here.
The Immigration Department nabbed them at about 5.20am on Wednesday (Dec 28).
Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud said the operation was conducted after the department received information that a group of undocumented foreigners had been sent to Kuala Lumpur by bus.
"We believe they entered the country illegally through Sungai Golok, Kelantan.
"The raiding team detected the bus used to transport the foreigners on the East Coast Highway and followed them to TBS," he said in a statement on Thursday (Dec 29).
Upon arrival at the bus terminal, Immigration officers conducted checks on all the passengers and detained five Indonesian men and an Indonesian woman, aged between 35 and 54.
"All foreigners had stamps on their passports showing they exited a neighbouring country and entered Malaysia, (but we believe those) to be forged.
"The forged stamps were meant to trick the authorities in believing that they entered the country legally.
"All of them had been blacklisted previously and barred from entering Malaysia for past offences," he added.
Khairul Dzaimee said a syndicate brought the foreigners from Indonesia to a neighbouring country by air before they entered Malaysia illegally.
"All of them admitted that they did not go through Immigration checkpoints when entering Malaysia," he said.
It is believed the syndicate had arranged for them to go back to work for their former employers in Kuala Lumpur.
"Each of them had to pay between RM5,000 and RM6,000 to an agent in Indonesia to arrange for entry here.
"They are being held at an Immigration depot in Putrajaya for further investigation," he said.
