Malaysia: Over 47,000 illegal immigrants arrested in 2017

Illegal immigrants arrested in Malaysia (Source: nst.com.my)

Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – A total of 47,092 illegal immigrants, including 885 children under 12 years old, were detained by the Malaysian Immigration Department throughout 2017.

Director General of the department Mustafar Ali stated that the arrests were made after authorised agencies examined documents of 188,884 foreigners in more than 16,000 operations across the country. Of the arrested, there were 33,079 men and 13,128 women.

The country has worked with concerned parties, including non-governmental organisations on appropriate measures to manage unlawful immigrants and their children at the detention depots.

Also in 2017, as many as 1,257 employers were caught for hiring and harbouring illegal foreign workers and 80 percent of them had been charged.

The Immigration Department will continue to intensify operations the curb the influx of illegal immigrants into the country, Ali added.-VNA