MELAKA: A Nigerian man hung on to the balcony railing of an apartment in Taman Mutiara, Batu Berendam for almost an hour to avoid being detained by state Immigration Department officers.
The 42-year-old man’s two fellow countrymen had earlier managed to escape through the balcony of the fifth floor unit during the 10pm raid.
“The man tried to escape through the same route but stopped short on the first floor when he saw officers stationed on the ground floor. So he hung on to the balcony railing,” Melaka Immigration assistant director Asani Ladjani told a press conference here yesterday.
He said the officers had to persuade the man for almost an hour before he agreed to surrender.
Asani said another five Nigerian men and a Thai woman were also detained in two separate units at the same apartment.
In the second raid at 12 midnight, five Indonesian men in their 20s were picked up at a partially constructed shop house in Taman Paya Emas, he added.
He said two of them were detected in the building’s ceiling which was believed to be the hideout for illegal workers, while the others were caught in the vicinity.
He further informed that nine Myanmarese and one Nepali man were detained in two separate houses at Jalan Jasa Merdeka.
All the 22 foreigners were suspected of various offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63, including overstaying and not possessing valid permits. — Bernama