The police today arrested 224 illegal immigrants from Indonesia and Bangladesh in a crackdown after brawls between workers of different nationalities in Negeri Sembilan, police said today.

Police spokesman Nassarudin Abdul Rauf said the 191 men, 31 women and two children would be deported, the official Bernama news agency reported.

The move followed two brawls last week in which some 66 foreign factory workers of various nationalities were arrested and at least five hospitalised.

That led Malaysia to announce compulsory segregation of migrants of different nationalities working at factories in the country.

Malaysia relies heavily on foreign labour but expelled some 468,000 illegal immigrants during a four-month amnesty period last year.

Police have also begun cracking down on illegal immigrants living in squatter camps near the new administrative capital of Putrajaya, where the summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) will be held next month. - AFP