Checking their papers: Over 1,000 enforcement personnel conducted a massive screening operation around Jalan Silang in Kuala Lumpur, a known gathering point for foreigners in the city.
KUALA LUMPUR: Scores of people and pedestrians had a surprise when hundreds of policemen and personnel from other agencies launched a security operation against illegal immigrants in Jalan Silang and areas around the Kota Raya shopping complex here.
A total of 1,101 undocumented foreigners were detained in the massive operation which began at 11am yesterday.
Some of the foreigners tried to flee the dragnet while others hid in buildings, but the security officers managed to catch them after a thorough search inside commercial buildings.
A total of 1,138 officers and personnel from the General Operations Force (GOF) and the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) as well as the Immigration and Customs Departments and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) took part in the operation.
They raided four blocks of shops and cordoned off the area as they rounded up foreigners for various offences.
Kuala Lumpur police chief Comm Datuk Allaudeen Abdul Majid said the joint operation headed by the Federal Internal Security and Public Order Department inspected 60 premises here.
A few of those detained at a business premises.
“We detained 1,101 undocumented foreigners of various nationalities, including two children,” he told a press conference at the Police Training Centre (Pulapol).
Comm Allaudeen said the foreigners were detained for immigration offences and they would be handed over to the Immigration Department for further action.
During the operation, the police seized about 100 cartons of cigarettes, 80 cartons alcoholic beverages and illegal medicines worth RM104,530.
“The medicines are mostly from Bangladesh and Nepal, which were brought in without the approval of the Health Ministry.
“We will investigate how they managed to smuggle such items into the country,” said Comm Allaudeen.
“We will continue to conduct such operations in the future in areas where there are many undocumented immigrants.
“We thank the public for supplying information on illegal immigrants to the police,” he added.
No escape: Two men being led away in handcuffs.
On what action that will be taken on the owners of premises renting rooms to illegal immigrants or employing undocumented foreigners, Comm Allaudeen said the matter would be handed over to DBKL.
“We will also check if any of the foreigners are involved in prostitution,” he said.
The operation was carried out to curb the influx of foreigners to the area. The authorities also checked businesses supposedly operated by foreign nationals, and discovered a travel agency and makeshift clinic that has unapproved medicines.
The travel agency and the clinic were empty during the raid.
On the second floor of a shophouse, they found workers’ hostels containing eight makeshift rooms in dirty and dilapidated condition.
Among those present for the operation was Federal Internal Security and Public Order Department deputy director Deputy Comm Datuk Mohd Suzrin Mohd Rodhi.
