KUALA LUMPUR: The Kuala Lumpur Immigration Department detained 40 illegal immigrants in a luxury apartment in Brickfields during a four-hour operation that ended at 4 am today.

Its director, Wan Mohammed Saupee Wan Yusoff said in the raid, 25 Indian nationals, 10 Sri Lankans, two Pakistanis, two Bangladeshis, and one Myanmar citizen, aged between three and 61, were detained.

"They are suspected of various offenses including not possessing a passport or permit to stay in Malaysia, holding expired passports, and overstaying," he said in a statement today.

Each apartment unit involved in the raid is rented for over RM2,000 per month and is occupied by eight foreigners, mostly employed in the construction and food sectors.

All detained have been transferred to the Bukit Jalil Immigration Depot for further investigation under the Immigration Act 1959/63