175 Foreign Workers, Mostly Bangladeshis, Detained in Malaysia Raids

During Friday night operations in the Barcham and Kanthan-Chemor industrial sectors in Ipoh, the Malaysian Immigration Department arrested 175 foreign workers, most of them Bangladeshis. There was fear as workers tried to flee by climbing tall, barbed-wire boundary walls or hiding under industrial garbage barrels and cabinets. According to Director-General Mr. Datuk Zakaria Shaaban, detainees are subject to serious violations, such as having fake Temporary Employment Visit Passes, working without authorization, and missing legitimate documentation.

Mr. Zakaria Shaaban expanded on the crackdown by revealing that officials are working diligently to investigate possible syndicates and brokers that provide employers with these fake permits. He cautioned that companies found to have unlawfully employed foreign labor through these methods would face legal consequences. As authorities step up their attempts to stop illegal labor, this operation comes after a nationwide search last month that resulted in the detention of 1,043 foreigners, with 460 of them being Bangladeshis.