The Immigration Department rescued a Bangladeshi man believed to be a victim of forced labour exploitation by his fellow countrymen during an operation at two construction sites in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, yesterday.

The operation, conducted at about 10:40am, involved the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Division and the Anti-Money Laundering Investigation Team from the Immigration Headquarters in Putrajaya, reports Malaysian daily The Star.

Immigration Director-General Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said the 33-year-old victim was brought to the workers' quarters at the construction site by two fellow Bangladeshi nationals under the pretext of discussing a job offer, but was subsequently mistreated.

"The victim claimed he was confined and closely monitored by the two suspects, aged 29 and 36. He also alleged that he was physically assaulted and abused and that the two suspects had taken his passport and mobile phone.

"Following a thorough inspection and search, the operation team recovered the victim's belongings and several personal documents from the suspects," he told reporters at the Kuala Lumpur Immigration Department's Hari Raya celebration here on Thursday (April 17).

Zakaria said that in the same operation, 85 foreign nationals, including Bangladeshis, Indonesians and Vietnamese, were also detained for various offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63 [Act 155].

He said the National Guidelines on Human Trafficking Indicators (NGHTI) 2.0. was applied during the operation to identify victims of human trafficking (forced labour) among vulnerable groups.

According to him, the Immigration Department had conducted inspections on 46,790 individuals between January and April 2 this year, with 19,361 people detained for committing various offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63.

"During the same period, we also detained 448 employers suspected of illegally protecting workers," he said.