KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 — A total of 72 foreigners were arrested in an Op Patuh operation jointly conducted by the Immigration Department and police in Pudu yesterday.

Immigration director-general Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud said they raided a building at 5 pm and checked 245 individuals, 72 of whom were found to have committed various immigration offences, including not having valid travel documents.

Those arrested comprised 43 men and 29 women, aged 25 to 50 and of different nationalities, he said in a statement today.

He said the building, believed to be a prostitution den, was in squalid conditions, with the lifts and corridor and staircase lights not working properly.

"Enforcement officers had to break down doors because most the occupants refused to cooperate and hid inside the houses with the lights switched off.

"Some of the immigrants hid in spaces created out of renovated walls and tried to flee but failed,” he said.

Khairul Dzaimee said all those arrested had been taken to the Bukit Jalil Immigration Depot after undergoing Covid-19 tests.

They are being investigated under the Immigration Act 1959/63, Passport Act 1966 and Immigration Regulations 1963. — Bernama