SHAH ALAM: A 46-year-old bakery owner became the first employer in Selangor to be sentenced to one stroke of rotan after he was found guilty of hiring illegal immigrants.
Immigration Department director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said the court also sentenced the baker to jail after he was found guilty of hiring more than 15 illegal workers last year.
"Throughout last year, 80 per cent of employers found hiring illegal immigrants were charged in court, and the rest are still in the process to be brought to court and other actions.
"This include the employer who was given a jail sentence and one stroke of the rotan for hiring and harbouring more than six illegal immigrants in Selangor.
"This is the first case in Selangor," he said, adding that the man had 15 illegal immigrants working with him when he was busted by the department’s enforcement officers.
Mustafar told reporters this after launching Selangor Immigration Day celebration and Setia Berjasa assembly, here today.
It is learnt that the man ran a bakery in USJ, Subang Jaya where he was found committing the offence in July, before the court pronounced the verdict last month.
Mustafar said the department carried out checks on a total of 188,884 people in its nationwideoperations last year.
The department arrested a total of 1,257 employers who were found to have hired and harboured illegal immigrants.
The total number of employers and illegal workers detained last year was 48,349.
"During our operations, the department also picked up 885 children when we arrested their parents. While we are concerned about humanity, the department is strict on law enforcement."