SIX SRI LANKAN MEN FREED FROM SYNDICATE

JOHOR BAHARU (Bernama) - The Immigration Department raided
a budget hotel at Jalan Wong Ah Fook here yesterday and freed six Sri Lankan men
from the clutches of a human trafficking syndicate.

Johor immigration deputy assistant director Gajendra Bahadur said acting on
a tip-off immigration officers saved the Sri Lankan men, who were confined to
two rooms at the hotel at 2.20pm.

He said the operation was a follow-up to an investigation on an agent of a
human trafficking syndicate who was arrested recently.

The agent, who is a local, was believed to have collected RM5,000
(US$1,666)each from the immigrants for job placement, Gajendra told reporters
here Wednesday.

He said the immigrants entered the country legally but their passports had
since expired.

"The immigrants will be held at the Tanjung Kling Depot, Melaka pending
deportation to Sri Lanka," he added.

The case is being investigated under Section 44 (1) of the Anti-Trafficking
in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007.