JOHOR BARU: The Immigration Department has detained 26 undocumented foreigners at 15 shophouses here.

       Its Johor director Baharuddin Tahir said an operation was carried out at an undisclosed location here at 12.05am on Tuesday (April 16) following a public tip-off.

       "According to the public information, a large group of foreigners were living in the area so we decided to investigate.

       "Out of the total 115 foreigners checked during the operation, 23 men from Bangladesh, two from India and one from Indonesia were detained," he said in a statement.

       The suspects, aged 21 to 49, were detained under the Immigration Act 1959/63 (Act 155) for overstaying and failure to produce identification documents, he added.

       Babaruddin urged undocumented foreigners to sign up for the Migrant Repatriation Programme, which enabled them to return to their home countries without being prosecuted starting March 1 until Dec 31.