Top cop says arrests of undocumented migrants part of Covid-19 measures

02-May-2020, 07:32

02 May 2020, 07:32

Abdul Hamid Bador says the detainees would be placed in a single location for easier monitoring.

Inspector-General of Police Abdul Hamid Bador has defended the authorities’ action to arrest undocumented foreigners in several areas in Kuala Lumpur.

KUALA LUMPUR:

Authorities are conducting large-scale joint operations to weed out undocumented foreigners during the movement control order as part of efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19, Inspector-General of Police Abdul Hamid Bador said after hundreds were arrested in an immigration raid carried out in Jalan Masjid India yesterday.

Hamid said the operations involving police, the immigration, the armed forces and health ministry is to ensure no undocumented immigrants sneak out from identified areas and spread the disease somewhere else.

“We cannot allow them to move freely while the MCO is still enforced as it will be difficult for us to track them down if they leave identified locations.

Authorities have detained hundreds of people living within locked down areas of central Kuala Lumpur.

“That is the main objective of today’s operations which we conducted at several locations in the capital,” he told Bernama here.

Hamid said it would be difficult for the authorities to carry out contact tracing should an infected migrant move to a different location and later start a new cluster.

He said those detained would be placed at a single location for easy monitoring until the MCO was lifted.

“It is up to the government to take further action against them once MCO is lifted,” he added.

Hundreds of undocumented immigrants staying in areas surrounding Jalan Masjid India, which has been under the enhanced movement control order, were detained yesterday.

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Top cop says arrests of undocumented migrants part of Covid-19 measures