Illegal immigrants detained in swoop

Illegal immigrants detained in swoop

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia, trying hard to stem a flow of illegal workers from neighboring countries, has detained some 1,000 Filipino and Indonesian immigrants in a major swoop in eastern Sabah state, reports said yesterday.

The state-wide operation on Thursday was to screen the immigrants to determine if they had entered the country illegally, the reports said. They were picked up from squatter colonies and villages in various parts of Sabah.

Immigrants without proper travel documents will be sent to the detention centers before being deported. There are more than 1.5 million legal foreign workers in Malaysia.