MORE than 8,000 illegal immigrants from 56 countries were arrested between May and November in efforts to stop the spread of Covid-19, said National Task Force (NTF) commander vice-admiral Aris Adi Tan Abdullah.

Aris told The Malaysian Insight that Putrajaya came under heavy criticism for the mass arrests of undocumented migrants, including women and children, which he describes as “unfair” as the government is concerned about security and health issues of its citizens.

There was a huge outcry from civil society groups and activists when the NTF raided low- and medium-cost flats in Jalan Masjid India and Selayang Baru in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya in Selangor and arrested hundreds of undocumented foreigners, including women and children.

They said the raids were inhumane given that undocumented migrants were also suffering during the pandemic.

The operation, dubbed Ops Benteng, was carried out to prevent undocumented foreigners who may have been infected from entering the country.

The NTF was formed on May 12, comprising 19 security agencies, such as the armed forces, police (RMP), Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, Malaysia Civil Defence Force and People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela).

“We are not arresting them just because they are undocumented but we want to stop the spread of the virus. We must also emphasis that all of the arrests were based on security concerns,” he said.

Between May and November 4, the NTF detained 8,031 individuals with the majority from Indonesia (3,699), Myanmar (1,047), Bangladesh (587), China (667), Rohingya (319) and the Philippines (339).

Also arrested were foreigners from the Middle East, such as Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Iran and Europeans from the United Kingdom (7), Spain (1), Italy (1) and United States (7).

Aris said only 281 of the arrested have been deported while the rest are held in immigration detention centres.

As of Wednesday, 7,924 illegal immigrants have been screened and 12 have been found positive with the virus.

“We have heard cases of infections in detention centres, that is why we have been strengthening our borders to prevent undocumented migrants from sneaking in,” he said.

“We do not know their health status as they enter using rat trail. They are isolated immediately but there is a possibility they might have infected others before we are able to isolate them.”

Local syndicates

Since Ops Benteng was launched, the NTF has arrested more than 700 boatmen for bringing in undocumented migrants into the country.

“We detained 779 boatmen and what saddens us is that most of the boatmen are Malaysians. Of the 779, 449 are our own people,” Aris said, adding that the authorities should deal with them severely.

Police have so far crippled three people-smuggling syndicates – Gang Otong in Johor, Gang Halim in Perak and Husen Maungdaw in Penang.

“We have also identified several local syndicates trying to bring in individuals into Malaysia and it is just a matter of time before we make the arrests.”

Demand for illegals

Aris, who has been in the navy for more than 40 years, said the demand from local businesses for illegal foreigners is contributing to the high number of arrests involving foreigners.

The situation is part of the “push-and-pull factor” taking place globally, he said.

“Due to the pandemic, many businesses have been forced to shut down and have also affected many other sectors. People are losing their jobs which is making it difficult for them to survive.

“There is the push factor from undocumented migrants who need a better quality of life and the pull factor from some companies or employers looking for cheap labour.

“They prefer illegals so they can pay them low salaries but that is very irresponsible of them because they are jeopardising our safety.” – November 7, 2020.