JOHOR BARU, June 3 — A total of 26 foreigners, including a caretaker of a worship centre, were arrested by the Johor Immigration Department here at midnight today.
Johor Immigration Department acting director Mohd Faizal Shamsudin said that enforcement officers raided seven premises under the Ops Sapu and Ops Selera operation in Taman Setia Indah here at 12.01am.
He said the raids were based on the department’s intelligence gathering and also public information.
“We arrested a total of 26 individuals for various immigration-related offences, where the department also found that a shophouse was turned into worship centre for foreigners in the area.
“At the same time, investigators also uncovered an illegal restaurant that was operated by foreigners in the same area,” he said in a statement here today.
Those detained include 16 men and one woman from Myanmar, seven men from Indonesia, one man from India and one woman from Thailand,
All those detained were aged between 22 and 47.
Mohd Faizal said the case was investigated under Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 (Act 155) for not having a valid passport or permit to be in Malaysia and Section 15(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 (Act 155) for overstaying.
“The Myanmar national, who was found to be the caretaker of the worship centre, was arrested for committing an offense under Regulation 39(b) of the Immigration Regulations 1963 for violating the conditions of his travel document.
The Johor Immigration Department has been actively targeting undocumented migrants and visitors since a nationwide crackdown last year.
The department has also taken stern action against those who misuse their social visit passes to work without valid documents.
