KUALA LUMPUR: The Immigration Department raided a massage parlour which has been operating for 30 years in Jalan Pasar Baru here, believed to be a front offering sexual services.
Immigration department director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said the department raided the premises offering sexual services in a special operation two days ago.
The operation, which began at 10.20pm, involved officers of various ranks from the Intelligence and Special Operations Division from the Immigration headquarters in Putrajaya, in collaboration with the Perak Immigration Department.
"Based on public complaints and intelligence conducted over three weeks, the operation team was deployed to the premises and arrested 37 Vietnamese women, three Indonesian women, one Myanmar woman, five Bangladeshi men, two Vietnamese men, one Indian-national man, one Pakistani man, and one Indonesian man.
"All 51 foreign nationals detained were aged between 24 and 54 years," he said in a statement today.
Ruslin stated that the operation team seized 19 Vietnamese passports, two Bangladeshi passports, four bottles of massage oil, and condoms.
"The modus operandi of the activities involved offering body massage services and prostitution to both foreign and local nationals.
"Body massage services were conducted on the ground floor of the premises, while prostitution activities took place on the first floor," he stated.
He added that customers would choose the foreign women for their services, with payments being made in a room located on another floor.
"During the raid, the foreign women present tried to escape through the back door but all attempts were successfully thwarted by the raiding officers.
"There were also customers who attempted to provoke the authorities by making noise and trying to obstruct the officers from conducting the search, but these actions were also successfully contained," he said.
He said all the foreign nationals were detained on suspicion of committing offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63, Immigration Regulations 1966, Passport Act 1966, and are being held at the Bukit Jalil Immigration Depot, Kuala Lumpur.
"Five local men were served notices to report to the Immigration department to assist in the investigation," he said.
