PUTRAJAYA – Six of the 130 undocumented migrants who escaped from the Temporary Immigration Depot in Bidor last night have been recaptured as of 4pm today, Immigration director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said.
They are currently undergoing verification processes by the Immigration Department, he said.
“We are continuing our efforts with the cooperation of all security agencies, including the police and the General Operations Force (PGA) to track down the remaining escapees, with a strength of 387 members from various agencies,” he said during a special media briefing today.
Last night, a total of 131 illegal immigrants fled from the male block of the Temporary Immigration Depot in Bidor, with one of them reported to have died in a road accident.
Of the total who fled, 115 were Rohingya detainees, followed by 15 Myanmar nationals and one from Bangladesh.
Following the incident, 435 other migrants remain in the depot.
The Immigration Department has relocated all of them to six other detention depots, including in Machap, Melaka; Lenggeng, Negri Sembilan; Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur; Kemayan, Pahang; and Langkap, Perak.
“The Bidor depot housed 556 detainees, of which 297 were Rohingya detainees followed by those from Myanmar, Indonesia, Bangladesh and others.
“The other detainees did not try to escape; they remained in the depot and we moved all of them immediately to six immigration depots located elsewhere,” Ruslin said. – February 2, 2024