KUALA LUMPUR:Police are tracking down about 400 residents of Medan 88 in Bandar Baru Salak Tinggi, Sepang, who did not return home after it was announced that the area will be placed under the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO), effective yesterday.

Senior Minister (Security) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the matter (for police to track down the residents) had been agreed upon at the special meeting of the National Security Council (MKN).

He said police would detain any resident who leaves the area as was done to those at the Selangor Mansion here, which was placed under EMCO in April.

“When the Selangor Mansion area was placed under the EMCO, many foreign workers left the place and we managed to track them down one by one.

“We also issued arrest order against them and this time it will be easier as there are employers aiding them by using buses to take their workers out (of the Medan 88 EMCO area),” he said at press conference on Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) development at the Ministry of Defence here today.

Ismail Sabri said action would not only be taken against the foreign workers but also against the errant employers.

"This is because they can endanger the lives of others and make it difficult for the authorities to track them,” he said.

Bernama today reported that the Sepang District Disaster Management Committee had sought the help of police to track down about 400 residents from Medan 88 in Bandar Baru Salak Tinggi, Sepang who did not return home after receiving information that barbed wire would be installed in the area for the implementation of the EMCO.

Committee chairman Mohamad Zain A. Hamid said they were told of this by the housemates or family members of those who did not return home upon finding out that the area would be placed under EMCO.

In another development, Ismail Sabri said employers could submit applications to bring their stranded foreign domestic maids back into the country, although approval is subject to the Immigration Department.

"Approval will only be given to individuals with emergency cases, such as caring for sick parents or if they have disabled children who were cared for by the maids previously,” he said.

-- BERNAMA