‘Illegal students’ busted in Malaysia immigration raid

Kuala Lumpur: Authorities in Malaysia have arrested 45 foreigners in a raid on a condominium complex at Bandar Saujana Putra, Selangor early morning on Wednesday.

In the 1 am operation, those arrested were from 20 from Nigeria, from Guinea, five from Somalia, four from Yemen, three from Bangladesh and one each from Libya, Uganda and Maldives, Malaysia’s national news agency Bernama reported.

Selangor Immigration Department Operation Chief Mohamad Rahmat Abdul Manap said that the documents of 181 foreigners were checked during the raid.

Most of the 31 men and 14 women who were arrested had entered the country on student visa, he said.

“Most of them said that the university had confiscated their passports for failure to settle their fees. Some others committed immigration offences such as overstaying and abuse of visiting visa,” he was quoted by Bernama as saying after the operation ended at 4 am.

The authorities will be contacting related universities to clarify the status of those who claimed they were students, he added.

Mohamad Rahmat said during the operation, his team of 68 members had to break open the doors of several units due to the refusal of the foreigners to cooperate.

The detainees aged 18 to 40 years old will be taken to the Semenyih Immigration Depot for follow-up action.