A total of 180 undocumented migrant workers were detained by the Immigration Department in a raid on Selangor Mansion, Kuala Lumpur, this morning.
“In the two-hour operation, the majority of those arrested are from India and Bangladesh,” a police source told The Malaysian Insight.
A Malaysian citizen who lived in the building told The Malaysian Insight that even legal foreign workers living there were now fearful, following two days of raids and detentions.
“They are scared. On Friday, the authorities raided Menara City One and today, Selangor Mansion. Some fear authorities will come again tomorrow,” said the resident, who declined to be named.
Media at the scene today were barred from recording the operation and were not allowed to approach officials who conducted the raid.
However, several video clips taken by other residents are going viral on social media. They show some of those rounded up being made to sit down by the roadside, but while maintaining a distance.
Selangor Mansion is one of the buildings in the Masjid India area that is under an enhanced movement-control order (EMCO) because of Covid-19 infections.
The majority of residents in the building are foreigners.
Last Friday, more than 500 undocumented migrants were arrested from Menara City One, prompting outcry from lawyers and human rights groups on the government’s reneging of its promise not to take action on migrants during the MCO, so that they would come forward for Covid-19 testing.
The police are also investigating a Malaysian journalist attached to a foreign newspaper for a report she produced regarding the Labour Day raid.
Tashny Sukumaran of the South China Morning Post is being investigated under Section 504 of the Penal Code, which pertains to intentional insult and provocation that could cause breach of public peace.
She reported on how social distancing was not observed among those detained and cited human rights activists who said that children had been among those picked up. – TMI
Earlier report: May 3, Immigration Raid at Selangor Mansion This Morning