Major crackdown on illegal immigrants in Cameron Highlands soon

The Immigration Department will be launching a major crackdown to flush out the large number of illegal immigrants living in Cameron Highlands soon.

Immigration deputy director-general (Control), Datuk Sakib Kusmi said the operation would involve the Cameron Highlands district office, police, Armed Forces, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) and other enforcement agencies.

He said the department would continue to carry out intelligence and monitoring on development at the highlands.

"Since the 'Ops Gempak and Mesra' crackdown on Sunday in which 181 illegal immigrants were held, the situation there has been quiet and not many illegal immigrants were seen at business premises and illegal farms," he said when contacted by Bernama Friday.

At the same time, Sakib also described earlier local media reports on Cameron Highlands being flooded with 30,000 illegal immigrants as unreasonable.

"These are unverified reports. The number of approved foreign workers in Cameron Highlands to date is 11,106 people with 6,057 Bangladeshis working in various sectors such as agriculture (5,990), plantation (13) while construction and service sector has 54 such workers," he said.

Sakib also did not rule out the involvement of foreign worker syndicates which brought illegal immigrants to the highlands.

He said during Ops 'Gempak dan Mesra' on Sunday, the department found almost all of the foreign workers had left Cameron Highlands especially from farms and plantations.

"I believe these foreign workers are managed by a syndicate which quickly took them away from Cameron Highlands," he said.

When asked by reporters on the hiding places of illegal immigrants in Cameron Highlands, he said the department did not rule the possibility of the illegal immigrants being tipped-off.

"The Immigration Department believes that the employers have provided them with temporary shelters because of our crackdown," he said.

Meanwhile, Cameron Highlands police chief, ACP Wan Zahari Wan Busu when contacted by Bernama said police would be conducting operations to nab illegal immigrants soon.

"The hotspots detected by police so far are in Ringlet and several nearby areas," he said.

Last Sunday, 181 illegal immigrants were detained for various offences in the first 'Ops Gempak and Mesra' at seven locations, namely Ringlet, Lembah Bertam, Tanah Rata, Brinchang, Kampung Raja, Tringkap and Kuala Terla involving 369 immigration officers and men.