NIBONG TEBAL: An employer at a factory housed in a two-storey shophouse in Taman Sinar here, along with 11 illegal foreign workers hired as tailors, were arrested by the Penang Immigration Department yesterday.
Department director Muhamad Husni Mahmud said during the 2pm raid, the 11 undocumented foreigners were found working alongside nine locals, with some of the workers attempting to escape through the back door of the premises but were unsuccessful.
Muhamad Husni said the foreign workers who did not have any valid documentation on them, were aged 20 to 35, and comprised three men and eight women, from Myanmar, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Vietnam.
Preliminary investigations showed that the workers had been hired because their Malaysian employer wanted to save on costs, given that their wages were much lower than that paid to locals.
The male employer was arrested in connection with section 55B of the Immigration Act 1959/63.
In another development, 17 foreign nationals including a four-year-old Indonesian girl and her parents, were detained in immigration raids conducted yesterday on several houses rented by the foreigners, in the Bukit Mertajam, Simpang Ampat and Bayan Baru areas.
Muhamad Husni said the foreigners were detained in connection with various offences including overstaying and misusing social visit passes. — Bernama
