A group of Burmese illegal immigrants who invaded the grounds of a United Nations refugee agency in Kuala Lumpur seeking asylum, were handed over to immigration authorities today.

The 28 immigrants from Burma's Muslim Rohingya community were taken away from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR) compound at about 1.30pm.

Some 50 policemen kept watch as the immigrants, including women and children, were driven out in a police truck.

However, no untoward incidents were reported.

Brickfields district police chief Khoo Hong San said the immigrants were handed over to the immigration department.

Khoo said the immigrants, who gatecrashed into the compound yesterday morning, were detained after being requested by the UNHCR.

Meanwhile, Lowell Martin, head of the UNHCR liaison office here, told reporters later the immigrants would most likely be held for several weeks before being deported to another country.

Martin said most of the immigrants had been interviewed twice and their applications for asylum were rejected.

"We have reviewed individual cases and we did not find them to be political refugees according to the UNHCR mandate.

"We apply a strict criteria," he said, adding that the rate of approval for applications is low.

Out of some 2,000 applications handled by the UNHCR in Malaysia over the past few years, less than 100 have been approved for resettlement in a third country.

Government crackdown

Martin said in cases of successful applications, the refugees were resettled in countries neighbouring Burma.

According to him, there are some 10,000 to 15,000 Rohingya illegal immigrants in Malaysia.

Asked to clarify a claim by the immigrants that their applications were rejected because they are Muslims, Martin said most asylum seekers in Malaysia are Muslims.

"Almost all our cases of refugees are Muslims. Very few non-Muslim asylum seekers are accepted," he said.

Martin said the immigrants may have resorted to this drastic measure - invading the UN agency - because of the government's crackdown on illegals.

"In the past, their presence had been quietly tolerated. With the increased number of arrests, they had probably been forced out of their homes," he said.

"We feel a great deal of compassion for these people, nevertheless, there is nothing much that we can do for them," added Martin

Somewhere safe

One of the immigrants, Abib Peter said the 28 entered the compound after pulling down a portion of the fence.

"We feel a lot of pain and we came to ask for help from UNHCR. We want the world to know about our plight," he said.

"We do not care where we go. We just want to be in a place where we will be safe," he added.

According to Abib, it is difficult for the immigrants to claim asylum as they do not have any documentation proving their origin.

He said several of the immigrants were interviewed by the agency officials this morning but Abib is pessimistic about the outcome.

Another immigrant, Nazim Saufi said he had been arrested by Malaysian police before and held in several detention camps.

Nazim was then deported to Thailand and sent to the Thai-Burma border. He later escaped and made his way back to Malaysia.

"A number of people sent back to the border have been shot by the Burmese border guards. The lucky ones make it back here," he said pointing to several large scars on his legs and arm which, he claims are gunshot wounds.

Nasim said he registered as a Rohinya refugee with the UNHCR in 1992 but his two applications for asylum were rejected.

The Rohingya Muslims are a minority group from the western Arakan province of Burma.

Meanwhile, a Bernama report later said that immigration officers were questioning the immigrants to determine their status.

Kuala Lumpur immigration department deputy director Ahmad Ismail said the 28 would be held at the Semenyih detention camp in Selangor until investigations are completed.

"We have to check with Myanmar whether they are its citizens. If Myanmar denies, the process may take longer," he was quoted as saying.