PUTRAJAYA: The Immigration Department detained 37 foreign nationals during a raid on a hotel used as a prostitution centre in Kuala Lumpur late Friday night.
Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban stated those detained comprised 18 Indonesians including one man, nine Thai women, six Vietnamese women, two Myanmar men, and one man and one woman each from Laos and India, aged between 19 and 61.
He confirmed initial checks found that six Thai women, three Vietnamese women, two Indonesian women and one Laotian woman had misused their passes, while the Indonesian man had overstayed his visa.
Two Myanmar men, one Indian man, 15 Indonesian women, and three women each from Vietnam and Thailand did not possess valid travel documents according to the investigation.
The operations team seized copies of employment agreements and 13 passports belonging to the detainees following the successful raid.
Zakaria explained the syndicate’s modus operandi involved using a three-star hotel as a prostitution centre for foreign women.
Customers could select women through WhatsApp or by walking in, with rates ranging from 250 to 400 ringgit per hour, and the operation is believed to have been active since September last year.
All detainees were taken to the Putrajaya Immigration Office for further action, while seven local men were issued notices to assist with the investigation.
In a separate operation, the department detained 21 Myanmar women at an entertainment outlet in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, for various immigration offences.
Zakaria confirmed the detainees, aged between 25 and 40, included a woman suspected to be the caretaker and 20 others believed to be working as guest relation officers.
The team also seized a transaction logbook and seven mobile phones during the Nilai raid operation.
The outlet, run by Myanmar nationals, operated only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, catering exclusively to Myanmar patrons according to immigration officials.
Customers were required to buy alcoholic beverages upon entry and were offered guest relation officer services at rates of 150 to 200 ringgit each.
The outlet is believed to have been operating for three months, and initial checks revealed that eight of the women had overstayed their visas.
Thirteen other women had no valid travel documents upon inspection by immigration authorities.
All detainees from the Nilai operation were taken to the Putrajaya Immigration Office for further processing and verification.
Five Myanmar men and one woman were served notices to appear to assist in investigations regarding the entertainment outlet operation. – Bernama