Immigration director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud said the operation was carried out at 11am on June 20 with 90 immigration officers and 35 enforcement officers from the police, Labour Department, Malaysian Civil Defence Force and the National Registration Department (JPN).

In a statement, he said the factory had not only violated the SOPs under the current movement control order (MCO) but had also been found to have broken the law by using undocumented foreign workers.

“We managed to detain a total of 229 foreign workers comprising 99 Indian nationals, 88 Bangladeshis, 33 Pakistanis, five Myanmar nationals, three Indonesians and a Nepalese,” he said, adding that all detainees were aged 22 to 45.

Khairul Dzaimee said the factory was also fined RM10,000 by the police and RM20,000 by the Labour Department for failing to comply with the lockdown SOPs.

He said during the inspection, there were some foreigners who tried to escape and hide, however, these attempts were successfully thwarted by enforcement officers.

“Among the immigration offences identified were not having valid travel documents, misusing social visit passes and for overstaying,” he said.

Khairul Dzaimee added that all detainees had undergone Covid-19 screening before being placed at the Semenyih Immigration Detention Centre.

They are being investigated for various offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63 and the Passport Act 1966.