KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7 — The Immigration Department has uncovered a syndicate involved in issuing refugee cards to the ethnic Chin from Myanmar following a raid conducted at a flat housing area in Jalan Imbi here last night.
Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud said the activity was believed to be orchestrated by an unregistered organisation that had been operating in one of the flats in the area since 2009.
He said applicants were charged RM500 per person in membership fees, as well as other payments.
"Based on the seized payment receipts, an estimated 1,000 people of the Chin ethnicity have become members of this organisation," Khairul Dzaimee told a press conference after the raid which ended at 2.30am today.
He said the card shows the holder is a Chin ethnic refugee who is waiting for permission to go to a third country.
Khairul Dzaimee said the department believed the activity was masterminded by individuals from the Chin ethnic group themselves and that efforts would be made to track them down.
In the operation last night, he said, a total of 1,051 foreigners were rounded-up and 544 of them, aged between one and 68 years, were detained for various immigration offences and were sent to the Bukit Jalil Immigration Detention Depot.
Those detained included 30 children, aged between one and 10, from the Chin ethnic group, Khairul Dzaimee added.
He said the operation was conducted by 115 Immigration personnel assisted by 43 personnel from other departments, including the National Registration Department and the Civil Defence Department.
— Bernama
