BANGI: There is no time limit for the Immigration Department to weed out illegal immigrants under Ops Mega 3.0 operations after the expiry of the deadline for the rehiring and relocation programme says its director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali.
He said the Ops Mega 3.0 which was launched on July 1 showed positive results as the focus areas of foreigners in the capital such as the Kotaraya Complex and Central Market were quieter during the recent public holidays in conjunction with the National Day, the Birthday of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Maal Hijrah.
He said since the launch on July 1 until September 13, a total of 3,134 operations were carried out with 40,395 foreigners being examined and of the total, 10,495 illegal immigrants were detained.
“There is no time limit for Ops Mega 3.0,” he said when delivering a lecture titled ‘Sovereignty and Security without Compromise’ under the ASEAN integration lecture series at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) here yesterday.
Mustafar said the number of registered immigrants also dropped from 1.8 million last year to 1.7 million.
Also at the same event yesterday, the Immigration Department has signed a strategic partnership with the UKM’s Institute of Malaysian and International Studies to collaborate in areas relevant to national and international affairs, particularly in the ASEAN region.
Following the collaboration, both parties would carry out a study on the ASEAN common visa next month that would include the movement of ASEAN citizens in the member countries and visitors from non-ASEAN countries in the region, and the study was expected to be completed within a year, he said.
In a press conference later, when asked about diplomatic passport held by lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Mustafar said that approval for diplomatic passport was issued by the Wisma Putra.
“There are three types of Malaysian passports, namely, diplomatic passports, official passports and regular passports and each diplomatic passport is to be approved by the Wisma Putra first before the Immigration Department to issue the passport,” he said. – BERNAMA
