KOTA BARU: A Myanmar man believed to be acting as a transporter was arrested with 10 fellow citizens during an Immigration Department raid at a hotel in Wakaf Che Yeh.
Immigration Department deputy director-general (Operations) Datuk Lokman Effendi Ramli said the group comprised six men and four women who were believed to be working in Johor Baru and Kuala Lumpur.
He said they arrived in Kelantan at about 6.30am and checked into the hotel, which was believed to be a temporary transit point.
At 8.30am, the Kelantan Immigration Department raided the hotel and foiled an attempt to take all 10 undocumented migrants out of the country through an illegal route for their return to Myanmar.
Officers also found a Honda CR-V sport utility vehicle believed to have been used to transport the migrants, along with several bags belonging to them.
Preliminary investigations found that each Myanmar citizen was required to pay the transporter RM3,500 to be taken out of the country.
Lokman Effendi said the transporter, who was in his 30s, admitted to having lived in Shah Alam, Selangor, for four years.
All 11 were detained to assist investigations under Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63.
In a separate operation at a construction site in Kubang Kerian, the Kelantan Immigration Department inspected 57 foreign workers and detained 55 on suspicion of various immigration offences, Lokman Effendi said.
From Jan 1 to Oct 15, the department conducted 11,000 enforcement operations nationwide, during which more than 146,000 foreign workers were inspected.
More than 65,000 people were detained for various immigration offences, while more than 45,000 foreign workers were repatriated to their countries of origin.
Lokman Effendisaid the 11,000 operations carried out over 287 days amounted to an average of about 38 operations a day.
On average, about 511 foreign workers were inspected daily, while 228 people were detained for various immigration offences.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd