KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian officials began a nationwide roundup of illegal immigrants on Tuesday, with volunteer squads launching night-time raids on building sites, plantations and restaurants.
In one early-morning raid witnessed by Reuters, immigration officials armed with pistols stormed workers' huts at a muddy construction site outside the capital, rousing 243 laborers from their sleep and finding 19 without proper papers.
"We will detain them for 14 days and check out their documents," said Mahadi Arshad, the chief of a volunteer force that is spearheading the campaign to drive out illegal migrants, most of whom come from poorer neighbor, Indonesia.
"Then immigration authorities will decide whether to deport or to detain them."
Similar scenes played out across the country in the first hours of Malaysia's biggest crackdown on illegal immigrants since 2002.
The question of illegal labor is a controversial one in Malaysia, where a successful government drive to improve education and modernise the economy means fewer people willing to do some of the gruelling manual work upon which the country's prosperity has been built.
The round-up follows a four-month amnesty, which ended at midnight on Monday, under which about 400,000 illegal workers have left the country without punishment, authorities say.
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