Malaysia detains 55 Bangladeshi workers

Malaysian immigration officers detained 338 migrant workers, including fifty-five Bangladeshi nationals, during a raid in a town of the country, Cyberjaya.

According to Malaysia's Immigration Department Director-General Mustafar Ali, the detainees included 55 Bangladeshi men, 36 men and 172 women from Indonesia, 47 Nepalese men and 25 men and three women from Myanmar.

“We checked 2,230 people at the location and detained 338 foreigners,” he said.

"Most of them were detained for using temporary foreign worker permit belonging to different companies,” Mustafar said, reports bdnews24.com.

An initial check suggests that some companies had supplied foreign workers registered to one company but ended up working for another, he said.

 “The employer and company owner had openly flouted immigration rules and regulations pertaining to the hiring of foreign workers.

“The employer took the easy route despite knowing that those with PLKS must work at the address or location stated in their permits,” he said.

Workers can be detained and have their permits revoked if they were working at a place not referred to in their permit.

Some of the migrant workers had overstayed their permits, did not have personal documents or had infringed on regulations, he said.

The detainees have been taken to the Bukit Jalil Immigration depot, he added.