Ops nets 436 illegal immigrants in Perak - State Assembly

A total of 436 illegal immigrants and 12 employers were arrested under an integrated operation in Perak between Jan 21 and Feb 28, the state legislative assembly was told today. Perak Youth, Sports, Communication and Multimedia Committee chairman Datuk Shahrul Zaman Yahya gave the breakdown as 132 Indonesian, 77 Myanmar, 73 Thai, 55 Bangladeshi, 35 Indian, 31 Cambodian, 24 Pakistani, seven Nepali and two Vietnamese nationals. The operation was carried out by personnel from the State Immigration Department, People's Volunteer Corps (Rela), police and Registration Department, he said when replying to a question from S. Kesavan (PKR-Hutan Melintang). A total of 2,278 people were inspected during the operation, which was carried out at business premises, factories, public places and residential areas, he said. Shahrul Zaman said illegal immigrants with travel documents and money would be repatriated in less than a week while it would take longer for those without travel documents and money as their repatriation would depend on getting travel documents from the respective foreign missions and arranging for their employers or families to provide the travel expenses. "The daily cost of maintaining an illegal immigrant at the detention depot is RM31, which includes food, drinks, water and electricity facilities, health and logistics and cleaning the detention block. "The expenditure is quite high and costly for us," he said. Replying to a supplementary question, from Wong Kah Woh (DAP-Canning), Shahrul Zaman said the Home Ministry had taken various measures to check the inflow of illegal immigrants. Nevertheless, the effort required the co-operation of all quarters, including the public, he added.