The Immigration Department of Malaysia detained seven Bangladeshis in a raid on a suspected migrant smuggling safe house in Taman Maluri linked to an organised network known as the "Iqbal Syndicate", authorities said.
Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said the operation was carried out by the department's Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants and Anti-Money Laundering Act Division after intelligence pointed to the use of a serviced apartment as a temporary holding centre for smuggled migrants.
"In the operation we detained five men aged between 27 and 44 who were believed to be migrants who had been smuggled into the country, while two others, aged 56 and 28, were suspected of acting as the caretaker of the safe house and as a transporter for the syndicate.
"A Perodua Myvi believed to have been used to transport the migrants was also seized during the operation," he said.
Zakaria said investigations revealed that the safe house was linked to the "Iqbal Syndicate", a Bangladeshi migrant smuggling network recently dismantled by the department in Kelantan, which operated by bringing migrants into the country through illegal land routes.
He said checks also found that the migrants' passports did not have any valid Malaysian entry endorsements, indicating they had entered the country illegally.
"The migrants were believed to have entered Malaysia through unauthorised routes near the Malaysia–Thailand border in Kelantan before being brought to Kuala Lumpur from the East Coast and temporarily housed at the premises prior to being sent to their next destinations," he said.
He added all seven detainees were taken to the Putrajaya Immigration headquarters for further investigations under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 and the Immigration Act 1959/63.
Zakaria warned that the Immigration Department would take firm action without compromise against any individual, syndicate, employer or premises owner found to be employing, sheltering or conspiring with undocumented migrants, as well as against foreign nationals who entered or remained in the country without valid authorisation.
Source: New Straits Times