Seven arrested at KIA for illegal stay in Malaysia

Immigration officials at the Kempegowda International Airport arrested seven people between June 26 and 29 for illegally staying in Malaysia.

The seven natives of Tamil Nadu had visited the Southeast Asian country on a tourist visa and stayed for years before being deported by the Malaysian immigration authorities. The seven, who found work in the country, were returning with fake visa stamping and were caught at KIA on suspicion.

Immigration officials suspect that touts in Chennai and Malaysia lured people with promise of jobs with attractive salaries, took them on tourist visas and forced them to work illegally. They promised to get them back to India on fake visa stamps. All of them, however, were caught on arrival.

The accused Venkatesan Jayasimha (23) from Cuddalore and Sathesh Sethu (28) from Methupaly told the police that they had been to Malaysia in September 2017 on a 30-day tourist visa as advised by the tout.

The story of 28-year-old Mahimairaj Sathish Kumar from Namakkal, 34-year-old Josephin Selvarasu from Thanjavur, 40-year-old Senthilvelan Thiruvasagam Moorthy and 23-year-old Omkar Singh from Ludhiana are no different. Some of them worked in Malaysia for 14 years before returning, the police said.

The police said the accused surrendered their passport and travel documents to the touts and worked in various places. They sent money to their families through illegal channels. The accused paid the touts to get the fake visa stamps when they decided to return, but were spotted by the Malaysian immigration officials, who deported them instead of arresting them for further investigation, the police said.