46 Bangladeshis detained in Malaysia

International Desk: The Malaysian Immigration Department has detained 111 foreigners for not possessing valid travel documents in a raid on workers hostels in the Senai industrial area. Among the detainees, 46 were from Bangladesh.

Department director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said that 46 were from Bangladesh, Myanmar (22), Nepal (17) and Indonesia (11).

Another four were Vietnamese, three were from the Philippines, and the rest were from India, Sri Lanka, China and Pakistan.

Mustafar said the department also arrested a 48-year-old Bangladeshi man who was believed to be an agent for the foreign workers.

"He was present at the scene while we were conducting the raid. He was in the middle of delivering some passports which he claimed belonged to his workers," he said in a statement on Sunday.

Other items seized were the vehicle driven by the suspect, several passports, fake United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) cards and a laptop.

He said the suspects were detained under the Immigration Act 1959/1963 and Immigration Regulations 1963.

The Star online

risingbd/Dhaka/Sept 17, 2017/Amirul