KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 71 illegal immigrants were rounded up by the Immigration Department (JIM) in a raid on a 30-year-old apartment which has become a colony in Jalan Changkat Bukit Bintang, here, this afternoon. Kuala Lumpur JIM director Wan Mohamed Saupee Wan Yusoff said the joint raid with Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) was carried out following complaints from residents of the apartment.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the raid revealed that foreigners were living in apartment units that had been renovated to accommodate up to 20 individuals in a unit, which were deemed unfit for occupation due to poor cleanliness, leaking pipes, and unpleasant odours. The KL Strike Force conducted the raid on the six-storey building housing 30 residential units at 12 noon after two weeks of intelligence monitoring.
Wan Mohamed Saupee reported that those arrested consisted of 56 men and 13 women, aged between one year and 56 years old, from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Indonesia
, and Thailand. Unit owners renting to foreigners have been identified and will be investigated for harbouring illegal immigrants.
DBKL Development Technical Division head Azmi Mohd Saaid noted that walls constructed without approval in 27 units were demolished during the operation. The building remains open as its structure is safe, but DBKL will issue notices to the joint management committee and unit owners regarding offences and instruct them to clean the area.
Azmi also mentioned that the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleaning Corporation (SWCorp) had previously attempted to address the odour issue, which persisted due to improper waste disposal by foreign residents. The case is being investigated under the Immigration Act 1959/63, with detainees taken to the Kuala Lumpur Immigration headquarters for further investigation.
A survey found that units rented to foreigners were modified from three to six rooms with rental prices as low as RM100 per person and RM300 to RM600 per room. Local resident Nu
rul Nizam Azhar, 41, stated that despite the bad smell and poor conditions, he chose to rent there since last year due to the low rent of about RM300 a month. He described the stench from the leaking sewage system as worsening the already bad condition of the apartment, exacerbated by the high foreign occupancy.