13,000 workers nabbed in E-kad ops

KELANA JAYA: More than 13,000 illegal foreign workers have been detained since the start of Ops Mega E-kad, said Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali.

He said action had also been taken against more than 312 employers who hired illegal immigrants and 90 of them had been charged in court.

Mustafar said the crackdown was launched at the close of E-kad applications. The E-kad is a temporary pass to legalise these workers.

“The E-kad registration process ended on June 30 and we launched the Ops Mega raids on July 1,” he said.

So far this year, he said 38,880 illegal immigrants had been deported.

“This total includes those nabbed in previous operations,” he said.

He said most were detained in the Klang Valley, followed by Johor and Negri Sembilan.

Those arrested, he added, were mainly from Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal.

Mustafar said the department needed to work with other agencies to address other issues involving foreign workers, including deplorable accommodation, which he had seen during raids.

“If there’s a fatal accident, the country will be blamed,” he said.

He reminded employers to take responsibility for the living conditions of their foreign workers.