Some 10,000 personnel from the police, Armed Forces, People's Volunteer Corps (Rela), Civil Defence Department and the National Registration Department will resume the Ops 6P to round up illegal migrant workers after the Jan 20 deadline for all employers to register their migrant workers.

“We extended the deadline to Jan 20 as we want to give employers a last chance. There will be no more extension and we will be coming for the illegal workers,” Immigration Department director-general Alias Ahmad is quoted by The Star as saying.

Alias ( left ) said the government had spent RM19 million on food at detention centres and on deportation, and that foreign workers nabbed this time around will have to pay for their own costs.

“If they have insufficient funds, then their respective embassies will have to cover the cost,” he is quoted as saying.

Alias said it costs RM5 a day to feed detainees at the Immigration Department's detention centres.

He estimates that 480,000 illegal migrants are still in the country. A total of 17,180 foreigners and 223 employers were detained during the first crackdown that started on Sept 1 last year, with most of the foreigners being Indonesians.

1.3 million foreign workers registered

Alias added that 1.3 million foreign workers were registered during the three-month 6P exercises that ended in October 2011.

The earlier raid had caused problems for employers, especially those in the construction and food industries.

However, the Malaysian Employers Federation told The Star , that the coming crackdown will only cause a “short-term” pain  for employers.

The Malaysian Trades Union Congress officials and migrant rights NGO Tenaganita have previously condemned the raids, saying that those who were cheated by 6P agents were put at risk.

They claimed that the workers, who have lost their passports and thousands of ringgit to fraudulent agents, have lodged police reports on the matter but did not get redress.