Immigration busts van service for undocumented migrants in Kajang, Putrajaya, drivers earning up to RM1,800 a month

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 23 — The Immigration Department (JIM) has dismantled a transport company suspected of employing undocumented migrants, detaining 53 passengers and seven drivers in a joint operation in Kajang and Putrajaya. According to JIM, the operation team intercepted and apprehended seven vans laden with foreign passengers on September 21.

The investigation revealed that five of the vans were driven by Bangladeshi nationals and one by an Indonesian man. The seventh van, owned by a Malaysian, was also arrested. None of the foreign drivers possessed valid travel documents or passes, and they lacked valid driving licences, some being probationary. JIM's initial findings suggest that some drivers were paid between RM1,600 and RM1,800 monthly by Malaysian-owned van services to transport the migrants, who traveled to and from work around Kampung Dato’ Abu Bakar Baginda, Kajang, and Putrajaya for approximately RM100 monthly.

Seven vans were seized for allegedly violating the Immigration Act 1959/63, and the drivers were arrested for investigation under Section 55E of the same Act. The seven vans and 53 passengers, comprising 12 Indonesian men and women, eight Bangladeshi men, and a Myanmar man, were detained for lacking valid travel documents or passes.

The arrested individuals, aged between 18 and 59, have been transferred to the Putrajaya Immigration Depot.