AMPANG: Public outcry over social issues linked to foreigners at Pandan Mewah Flats has prompted a major inter-agency crackdown.
Immigration Department, Ampang Jaya police, National Registration Department and Ampang Jaya Municipal Council personnel raided the flats at around 6pm on Tuesday following numerous public complaints and media reports highlighting the matter.
A concerned resident who only wished to be known as Syafiq, 56, said many foreigners staying here constantly threw rubbish indiscriminately and lived an unhygienic lifestyle.
"I have stayed here for 20 years, but I only noticed these foreigners coming in about five years ago.
"They do not keep the area clean, and I have witnessed some of them getting drunk, shouting and fighting with each other on numerous occasions," he said when met at the scene.
He said some of them also gambled brazenly out in the open.
"The unit owners do not care about what happens in the area as long as the rent payments come on time.
"In the end, we are the ones who have to deal with social ills and a dirty living environment," he said.
Selangor Immigration Department director Khairrul Aminus Kamaruddin said the raid followed public complaints of foreigners flocking the area.
"We conducted surveillance here nearly a month before the raid.
"In total, we checked over 400 individuals and detained 119 for various offences," he told reporters at the scene.
He said most of those checked during the raid hailed from Myanmar and Bangladesh.
"We detained 71 men and 18 women from Myanmar, 14 Bangladeshi men, three men and a woman from Indonesia, eight Nepalese men and four Indian men.
"Those detained will be taken to the Semenyih Immigration Department Detention Depot for documentation," he said.
Khairrul Aminus said the raid involved 101 Immigration Department personnel, 110 General Operations Force personnel, 160 Ampang Jaya policemen, 60 MPAJ staff and seven NRD personnel.
"We will continue to monitor the location from time to time to ensure the same issues do not reoccur.
"We will also work on identifying and taking action against the owners who were renting out their units to the undocumented foreigners, which is an offence," he said.