KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia plans to arrest up to half a million illegal foreign workers this year, the immigration enforcement director said on Monday, as officials voice fears over immigrant criminals.

A citizen volunteer corps known as RELA, which assists law enforcement agencies, has been mobilised to help police and immigration officers crack down on an estimated 600,000 illegal migrant workers, Ishak Mohamed, the department of immigration's enforcement director, said.

“As of today, RELA have checked 46,000 foreigners and 8,500 arrests have been made,” Ishak said. “Our target is to arrest 400,000 to 500,000 illegals and we are also looking out to arrest as many as possible employers who hire foreigners illegally,” he said.

A Malaysian junior minister last month called for a review of foreign worker recruitment policies, citing what he said were large numbers of foreigners in jail.

Deputy Internal Security Minister Fu Ah Kiow said 34 per cent of 35,000 people in Malaysia's prisons were foreigners, the state Bernama news agency said.—AFP