Several Myanmar migrant workers nabbed in raid on Kuala Lumpur apartment complex

By Admin 02 Jul 2025

DMG Newsroom

2 July 2025, Sittwe

Malaysian authorities raided an apartment complex in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday morning and arrested about 40 migrant workers, including mostly Myanmar nationals.

The arrests were made when Malaysian authorities raided the Ria Apartment, a migrant worker housing complex in Kuala Lumpur, after residents complained about the noise.

"After some Malaysians complained that the migrant workers were rioting, authorities arrived in cars early in the morning on July 2, stormed the apartment building, and arrested dozens of migrant workers," said a Myanmar migrant man.

Most of those arrested were reportedly Myanmar migrant workers, but there were also migrant workers from other countries.

In Malaysia, migrant arrests can take the form of immigration enforcement action or a variety of other pretexts, including petty crime and traffic violations.

"If you come to another country because it's not comfortable or peaceful in Myanmar, you need to learn to live there, and especially not commit injustice," U Ottara, patron of the Center for Arakan Refugees Committee (CARC), told DMG in an interview.

Those arrested were charged under the Malaysian Immigration Act and sentenced to between one and three months in prison.

The number of Myanmar migrant workers and refugees arrested in Malaysia is on pace to easily surpass last year's total of 45,784, with 34,287 arrested from January through May 13, 2025, according to a recent report by Fortify Rights.

Fortify Rights has called for an end to the Malaysian Immigration Department's violent arrests of Myanmar migrant workers and refugees in Malaysia.