Malaysia is set to launch its biggest ever operation to flush out illegal immigrants from next week when authorities will begin a massive hunt for 500,000 foreigners living in the country without valid visas.
The authorities will conduct raids mainly in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang and Johor, which have been identified as the dens for illegal immigrants.
The Immigration Department is the lead agency of the programme.
The operation will also involve some 135,000 personnel from the Immigration Department, police, Armed Forces, Rela (a paramilitary civil volunteer corps), Civil Defence, National Registration Department and local councils.
Malaysia relies heavily on foreign labour sourcing from India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Nepal and Myanmar.
After the illegal immigrants are arrested they will be deported immediately as the Immigration Department does not want its 12 detention centres around the country, each with a capacity of 1,000 people, to be overcrowded.
Employers found hiring illegals could be charged under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants Act, local media reports said.
Immigration director-general Alias Ahmad said the department would seek the cooperation of foreign missions through the foreign ministry to issue illegal immigrants with travelling documents to speed up their deportation.
The operation is targeted at people who registered under the Illegal Immigrant Comprehensive Settlement Programme but did not turn up for further processing, including legalisation and voluntary deportation, Ahmad was quoted as saying by The Star.
During the registration, which was conducted for three months ending in October 2011, about 1.3 million of the estimated two million undocumented foreigners registered.
Of the registered people, 500,000 applications for legalisation were processed while 330,000 were repatriated.
"We have given them more than a year to take up the offer. It is now time for full enforcement," Ahmad said, adding that the majority of the targets were Indonesians.
Other targets of the programme included, Bangladeshis, Myanmar nationals, Vietnamese and Nepalese.
Ahmad said the operation would be like "a cat and mouse" game, but "we are fully prepared for it".
He warned that people found guilty of hiring or harbouring illegal immigrants may be fined up to one crore rupees and jailed up to a maximum of 20 years.
