By Pearl Lee and Teoh El Sen November 17, 2008 Categories: News
The fight to reclaim Chow Kit from illegal foreign workers, pimps and gangsters has begun.
In what was seen by many as the opening salvo, authorities yesterday mounted a major crackdown, spearheaded by the Immigration Department, following reports by Malay Mail in recent months.
A 106-man task force from the Federal Territory Immigration Department, along with police, the National Registration Department and Rela, descended on Chow Kit and picked up 200 foreigners. The inter-agency operation, dubbed Ops Kutip, began at 9.30am and ended at 11.30am.
Immigration Department enforcement director Datuk Ishak Mohamed said the department would conduct regular operations to rid Chow Kit of illegal foreign workers. He added that City Hall would also be called in to ensure that local traders do not rent out their licences to foreigners or use illegal foreign workers. If they do, these traders run the risk of having their licences revoked.
"Of the 200 arrested, 79 were held for overstaying and for misusing their travel pass under the Immigration Act 1959/63 and the Immigration Rules of 1963," Ishak said.
He added that of the 79, 37 Indonesian men, 31 Indonesian women, six Bangladeshi men and five Indian nationals would be sent to the Semenyih detention centre.
Ongoing operations would be conducted in other areas such as the Selayang wholesale market, the Selangor wholesale market in Sri Kembangan and the Klang wholesale market.
Ishak also said the new Mobile Immigration Enforcement System (MIES), which provided on-the-spot and multi-level verification and authentication of passports, had also speeded things up during the operation.
Last week, Ishak told Malay Mail that local authorities should step up and immediately revoke the licences of traders who continued to employ illegal foreign workers as helpers, as opposed to issuing them (the local traders) show-cause letters first.
Meanwhile, Federal Territory Immigration Department enforcement head Amdan Yahya said the employers were using middlemen when preparing legal documents for foreign workers, and were not going through the department. As a result, there had been a spike in the use of fake documents.