A MASSIVE operation has been launched to hunt down and recapture 130 undocumented migrants from Myanmar who escaped from the Bidor Immigration Depot after a riot there last night.
About 275 officers from various agencies, including the Immigration Department, the Police, the General Operations Force (GOF), and the Malaysian Volunteers Department (Rela) were deployed shortly after the incident at about 9.50pm yesterday.
A hundred more members from the Immigration Department and GOF were roped in this morning in an intensified bid to track the detainees.
The depot in Bidor, Perak, is sited about 60km from Ipoh and 120km from Kuala Lumpur.
Immigration Director-General Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said that the department is working in collaboration with several other agencies to plan and conduct the search to recapture 130 of the 131 detainees who escaped.
One prisoner has been confirmed to have died in a road accident after fleeing, he said today.
His body was found at Kilometre 335 of the North-South Highway (PLUS) in Perak.
Ruslin requested the assistance of the public who have information about the escaped detainees to contact the Bidor Immigration Depot Operations Room at 05-4348736, Bidor Police Station (05-4342222) or Tapah Police Station (05-4011222).
Of the 131 detainees who escaped from the depot, 115 were Rohingya men and 16 ethnic Myanmar men.
Meanwhile, Tapah district police chief Supt Mohd Naim Asnawi said that the detainees had rioted before escaping from the depot.
"So far, no arrests have been made," he said in a statement this morning.
The case is being investigated under Section 147 of the Penal Code for rioting, Section 223 for escaping from confinement, and Section 224 which relates to resisting and obstructing lawful apprehension.– The Vibes, February 2024
