BINTULU: A surprise pre-dawn strike by Immigration officers on two plywood factories yesterday (Oct 26), uncovered a massive illegal workforce with more than 200 foreigners arrested in the sweeping operation.
Codenamed ‘Ops Sapu’, the raid was mounted by the Sarawak Immigration Department’s Security and Enforcement Monitoring Unit (UPKP) at around 2 am, involving a 23-member enforcement team.
The factories were targeted following intelligence reports suggesting they had been employing foreigners without valid documents.
A total of 357 individuals were inspected for their documentations and of the figure, 203 were taken into custody.
They consist of 129 men and 74 women, and are being investigated under Section 6(1)(c) and Section 56(1)(l) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 for various offences.
They were later taken to the Immigration Detention Depot for further investigation.
The department said statewide operations will be intensified to ensure employers comply with immigration laws and to stamp out the hiring of undocumented workers.
