Immigration nabs five foreigners for illegally collecting donations at Gelang Patah night market

JOHOR BARU: Foreigners – including some who are disabled – have been hauled up by the Immigration Department after being found collecting donations at a night market in Gelang Patah.

Johor Immigration director Baharuddin Tahir said five of them were detained at around 6.30pm on Tuesday (Jan 30) in a joint operation with the Johor Baru Social Welfare Department and state Islamic Religious Department.

“The raid was conducted based on information from the public about foreigners posing as donation collectors.

“Some of them were also going around with donation boxes, claiming to be raising funds for religious schools (tahfiz) and religious institutions,” he said in a statement on Wednesday (Jan 31).

Those detained were all men; three from Cambodia and two from Thailand.

“The three Cambodian men also suffer from various disabilities,” he added.

He said that a man and a woman from Indonesia were also detained at the night market for working at a stall illegally.

All seven suspects are aged from 34 to 63 years old, he added.

In a separate raid, Baharuddin said 40 foreigners from Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar, India and Cambodia were detained in several hotspots on Monday (Jan 29) and Tuesday (Jan 30).

“We inspected 353 foreigners at 44 premises in Johor Baru, Mersing, Batu Pahat and Segamat and detained the suspects aged from 21 to 49 years old.

“They were working without permits and have overstayed in the country. At the same time, we also issued 10 notices to local individuals to aid in our investigations,” he added.