GROs lose cat-and-mouse game

JOHOR BARU: For an hour, several foreign guest relations officers (GROs) played cat-and-mouse with the authorities, resorting to climbing down a balcony from the fourth floor and later hiding underneath cars in a desperate attempt to evade arrest.

Their attempts were in vain as as they were eventually caught.

Acting on a tip-off, Immigration officers raided an entertainment outlet in Taman Mount Austin here at about 11pm on Friday and detained four Indonesian women working as GROs, while five others escaped to a nearby condominium some 2km away.

The enforcement officers tracked them down at the condominium and detained two women as they were running up the stairs, while three others entered a unit on the fourth floor.

Upon entering the unit, the Immigration officers were puzzled as the place was empty.

Other residents then alerted the officers when they saw the women climbing down from the balcony.

Other enforcement officers waiting on the ground floor quickly tracked down the women who were hiding underneath a few cars.

Johor Immigration department enforcement chief Masri Adul said nine women from Indonesia and the Philippines, aged between 21 and 29, were detained.

“Some of these women are very cunning and resourceful. They climbed down the balcony without any rope or cloth in their attempt to escape,” he said.

Masri added the women were detained under the Immigration Act 1963 for violating their visitor’s pass.

He added to date, more than 30 women from Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam had been detained in multiple raids this year for working as GROs. - The Star