81 illegal immigrants hauled up

Melaka Immigration Department director Kamalludin Ismail said the 81 detained comprised 65 men and four women from Indonesia, seven men from Bangladesh, four men from Pakistan and a man from Myanmar.

The three-hour operation which started at 11.30pm at Mukim Belimbing Durian Tunggal, Alor Gajah, involved 32 officers while those detained were for offences like misusing social visit pass, no work permits or holding border pass.

He said the 81 who were detained were among 158 people who were screened during the operation.

"When we carried out the raid, many of them were sleeping but about 20 foreigners who realised the presence of the Immigration officers, managed to escape in the darkness," he told reporters here today.