ALOR STAR: The Immigration Department will launch a major operations very soon in Langkawi to curb the arrival of illegal immigrants through the Bukit Malut area, located some 20 km from Kuah town.
Kedah immigration director Zuhair Jamaludin told Bernama today although an operations undertaken jointly with the National Anti-Drug Agency (AADK) last year did not find any illegals settled in the area, this new sting would investigate a front-page report by Berita Harian yesterday about an estimated 5,000 to 8,000 illegals who were living in the Bukit Malut area on a long-term basis in some 800 homes believed to have been built since the 1980s.
The article also stated that Bukit Malut local residents had worked with illegals to construct settlements which encroached into the forest reserve in the area.
Zuhair added that previous investigations had showed that many of the residents in the area belonged to the local Muslim community who had been living in the area since the 1980s. — Bernama
