30 Rohingyas found in illegal building extension

KUALA LUMPUR: It was simply mind-boggling when the authorities stumbled on 30 Rohingyas who were pathetically cramped in squalid conditions in one of seven units of a three-storey building in the Pusat Bandar Utara Selayang.

Nevertheless, this was the scenario which greeted the enforcement officers of the Immigration Department, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission during an integrated operation about 4.30pm on Thursday.

Kuala Lumpur Mayor Tan Sri Mhd Amin Nordin Abd Aziz said the unit was found to have been illegally converted into seven ‘rooms’ which were partitioned by wooden planks.

There was neither power supply nor proper drainage system, he said.

“According to the standard rules, a unit can only be occupied by up to 12 people at any one time but the occupants of this unit comprised 30 adults and children,” he told reporters after the integrated operation ended here.

Mhd Amin Nordin said the illegally erected rooms would be demolished by the DBKL enforcement personnel and the owners of the premises would be served with a warning notice.

In the same operation, a total of 340 foreigners from Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh and Indonesia were detained at the Kuala Lumpur Wholesale Market for various offences including abuse of study permits, expired documents and overstaying. - Bernama