KUALA LUMPUR – Police crippled a Myanmar-operated syndicate in the smuggling of illegal immigrants to Klang Valley with raids on four apartments in Cheras and Kajang yesterday, with the arrest of 29 Myanmar nationals including five men believed to be acting as agents.
Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Division’s Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (Atipsom) Unit D3 principal assistant director Soffian Santong said the raid was carried out at around 10.35pm based on intelligence that the five agents had just brought in a group of illegal immigrants into the country.
“In the raid, 24 illegal immigrants were arrested, comprising 22 men and two women aged between 18 and 36 years. They are believed to have been living in the apartment for the past two weeks.
“All these illegal immigrants are suspected of being smuggled in by land from the East Coast after paying a fee of between RM2,000 and RM3,000 each to an agent who is also a Myanmar citizen,” Soffian said here today.
Preliminary investigation found that the five agents involved, aged between 27 and 30, were believed to have been smuggling their nationals into this country for the past three months.
However, the number of illegal immigrants smuggled in during the period as well as their destinations are still under investigation.
“All the arrested agents are being investigated under Section 26A of the Atipsom Act 2007 (for smuggling of migrants), while illegal immigrants are being probed in accordance with Section 6 (1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63. – August 24, 2024