RI illegal workers held in Malaysia

RI illegal workers held in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian immigration officers detained 48 illegal Indonesian women workers at a garment factory in the northern state of Penang, a newspaper report said yesterday.

The 38-year-old manager of the factory was also arrested and would be charged with harboring the illegals, state immigration director Mohamad Saad Mohamad Akhir was reported as saying by The Star newspaper.

The manager faces six months in jail, a fine of not less than 10,000 ringgit (US$2,500), or both for each illegal worker, the report said.

Saad said 46 workers were found without valid work permits while two others had breached conditions in their passports.

The workers, aged between 18 and 25, had been sent to a detention camp, the paper said.

Saad said this was the second effort to flush out illegal workers in the service sector following the federal government's decision not to renew their work permits, which will expire on Aug. 15.

Fifteen employers and 50 illegals were arrested during their earlier crackdown which targeted restaurants on Penang on Jan. 21, he said.

Saad said the arrests should serve as a warning to other employers harboring illegal workers.

There are an estimated 1.8 million foreign workers in Malaysia and almost half are illegals employed mostly in the labor intensive construction, agriculture and service sectors.