Immigration Dept nab 16 in two vice raids in KL and Selangor
In a statement, department deputy director-general (management) Ismail Mokhtar said the prostitution service had advertised through social media applications to attract customers.
The fees charged to customers ranged from RM250 to RM1,200 per service, with payment transactions made in cash or online, he added.
Ismail said the department acted after receiving public information and conducting two weeks of intelligence gathering.
The special operation began at 7.15pm, involving a team of officers and personnel from the Intelligence and Special Operations Division, Immigration Headquarters in Putrajaya, he added.
"The operation team was mobilised to a shop and a residence where they successfully arrested two Malaysian men believed to be the caretakers of the premises.
Two Vietnamese men, seven Vietnamese women, four Indonesian women, and one Laotian woman were also arrested, bringing the total number of arrests to 16. All those arrested were aged between 19 and 61 years old.
Initial checks found that one Vietnamese woman and one Laotian woman had valid Visit Passes (Social), two Vietnamese men had overstayed, while the other foreign nationals did not have any travel documents or valid passes to be in the country, he said.
The operation team seized 19 mobile phones, five copies of Vietnamese passports, one copy of a Lao passport, work record books, and business books.
All foreign nationals were detained on suspicion of committing offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63 and the Immigration Regulations 1963 and were taken to the Putrajaya Immigration Depot for further action.
Meanwhile, two Laotian women and one Vietnamese woman have been given notices to appear at the office to assist in the investigation, Ismail added.
The department will continue to take strict action against any party found committing offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63, the Passport Act 1966, the Immigration Regulations 1963, and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 (ATIPSOM).
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