An Umno-backed youth organisation today said that several of the 126 foreign workers arrested in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday have claimed that their money totalling RM18,000 has gone missing.

In a press statement, the Pusat Bandar Utara division Belia 4B movement said the foreigners were ordered to evacuate their hostel while immigration and Rela officials ransacked their cupboards and bags.

The movement said this was done without the presence of the foreign workers' employers or any other party.

"We view this matter seriously, especially the missing money," it stressed.

The movement also refuted a Berita Harian report yesterday, which quoted Kuala Lumpur Immigration Department director Saadun Mat Sahari as saying that the public prevented the officers from carrying out their duties.

"We would like to clarify that when the incident happened...the public did not block the public officers from doing their job," said Belia 4B in the statement signed by division secretary Azamuddin Hamzah.

The statement also said that some of the foreign workers' employer Konsortium Pekerja-Pekerja Pasar Borong has lodged a police report on the raid and the missing money today.

Unsympathetic officers

When contacted, company manager Nor Fazlina Mohd Latiff said during the raid workers were instructed to leave their rooms in a "rough manner" and officers also used "large cutters to break into the rooms where the workers were still sleeping.

She added that they then "kicked and shoved the workers" in order to force them to leave their rooms.

"Only the Myanmarese workers, who lived on the third floor were safe from having their premises ransacked, as they refused to follow the directions of the officers to leave their room doors open.

"Because they had locked their room door, no money was missing from their room," she claimed.

"Unfortunately, the Nepalese workers who lived on the first and second floor did not dare (to go against the officers)," she added.

Nor Fazlina, who was at the scene, said the officers were unsympathetic to the workers' plight.

She also claimed that one of them had told her that the money missing was only a small sum and they should not create a big fuss.

More money missing

According to Nor Fazlina, her workers were not the only ones who had complained of missing money during the raid codenamed ' Ops Pintu '.

"When I made my police report at the Sentul police station on Wednesday morning, another employer was also lodging another report over the raid and over some missing money.

"I do cannot recall the name of the other company, but I understand that their premises were also nearby. The company officer informed me that their workers from India and Nepal found approximately RM4,000 missing following the raid," she said.

"What was interesting is that both our companies had given workers their wages, by cash, on Oct 13, one day before the raid. Perhaps some people were aware that we had paid our workers their wages on that day," added the manager.

At press time, immigration department could not be contacted for comments.