A village house allegedly used as a transit location for illegal immigrants before they were sent to Kuala Lumpur was uncovered after the General Operations Force (GOF) detained eight Indonesian nationals and a local couple in Kampung Gong Serapat on Friday.
Southeast Brigade GOF Commander Senior Assistant Commissioner Ahmad Radzi Hussain said the raid was conducted under Op Taring Wawasan following intelligence gathered by the Intelligence Branch of the 7th GOF Battalion in Kuantan, with assistance from the Pasir Puteh District Criminal Investigation Division.
During the inspection, enforcement personnel discovered three Indonesian women hiding in the living room before finding five more men from the same country inside a storage area behind the house.
“All eight Indonesian nationals failed to produce valid travel documents or identification papers and were detained for further investigation,” he said.
A local man and woman, believed to be the homeowners, were also arrested. The couple, aged 41 and 35, are suspected of being involved in the operation.
Ahmad Radzi said initial investigations found that the Indonesian nationals had entered Malaysia from Thailand through an illegal landing point near Sungai Kelantan on July 30 before being taken to the house, which was allegedly used as a temporary transit location.
He said the group claimed their entry into Malaysia was arranged by an agent in Indonesia, with each individual paying RM4,000 for the journey.
“The investigation found that they planned to travel to Kuala Lumpur to work as construction workers and cleaners, with arrangements allegedly made by a local man,” he said.
Police also seized 10 mobile phones worth about RM22,000 along with several other items believed to assist investigations.
Ahmad Radzi added that urine screening tests conducted on all those detained returned negative results for drugs.
The case is being investigated under Section 26J of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 (ATIPSOM) and Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63.
