The government today launched a controversial operation to round up, whip and deport hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants following the end of a four-month amnesty.

Some 450 civilian volunteers and 13 immigration officers carried out the first raid shortly after midnight on a construction site in Cheras, south of Kuala Lumpur, which netted 62 Indonesians, officials said.

Some of the illegal immigrants fled into surrounding forests under cover of darkness in an attempt to escape the dragnet but later surrendered to the officials, who were armed with batons while six officers also carried side arms.

The 62 Indonesians, including 27 from tsunami-hit Aceh province, were being held at Semenyih detention centre south of Kuala Lumpur, Mohamad Amirudin Mohamad Yusof, director of the 300,000-strong civilian security force who led the raid, told reporters.

"It is a successful operation. No one was injured. We will conduct more raids," he said. The volunteers are paid RM80 for each illegal caught in the nationwide operation, codenamed 'Ops Tegas'.

Human rights violations

The crackdown against illegal immigrants, mainly Indonesians, marks the end of an amnesty which has twice been extended at Jakarta's request.

Malaysia had estimated there were nearly a million illegal workers in the country, mostly from Indonesia but also from the Philippines, Burma, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.

Some 382,000 took advantage of the amnesty declared at the end of October and had departed before it expired at midnight yesterday.

An estimated 400,000 illegal immigrants are still in the country, many of whom sought jobs in the construction, plantation and service industries in the face of unemployment at home.

Human rights groups have expressed concern about the massive crackdown, which they say is open to abuse.

"There is a high potential for human abuses to occur considering the magnitude of the operation," National Human Rights Society (Hakam) secretary general Elizabeth Wong said.

Amnesty International earlier this month urged Malaysia to halt the planned deportation of illegals amid fears some could face execution or torture in their home countries.

Migrants from Burma, Nepal and Aceh could be subjected to serious human rights violations if they were sent home, it said.

'Bad luck'

In today's launch operation, officials and volunteers surrounded a small hill which had been cleared for construction of a housing estate.

As they closed in on temporary shelters housing the migrant workers, many fled barefoot into surrounding forest pursued by enforcement officials.

Some 270 people, including women and infants, were later escorted from the construction site and their documents were checked by immigration officials.

After some five hours, those with no documents were bundled into two trucks and taken to the Semenyih detention centre.

Sumiyati, 35, from Makassar in the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi, said she entered Malaysia 18 months ago as a tourist but stayed on to work on the construction site after her visa expired.

"My luck is just bad. I lost my 12-month old son 40 days ago," she told

"I know what I have done is wrong. But I need the money to support my family. I will accept what ever comes. I place my life in the hands of Allah," she said, as tears rolled down her cheeks.

The crackdown is part of Malaysia's largest blitz to flush out illegal immigrants in three years. A similar nationwide sweep was carried out in 2002 following the end of a four-month amnesty.