Six Nepalis who had gone to Malaysia for employment have been jailed for “violating immigration laws”, according to newspaper reports.

The Malaysian police arrested six of a group of 24 Nepalis while 18 others managed to evade arrest and are now in hiding, the Himalayan Times quoted the victims family members as saying. The people were arrested three days ago.

All 24 persons had been sent to Malaysia by Om KSH Overseas located in Samakhushi of Kathmandu some nine months ago.

“The police have arrested our friends. I managed to evade arrest and have been hiding. Please try and rescue us,” Jang Sunuwar of Dokhu VDC-3 of Taplejung said quoting his brother Bhakta Bahadur Sunuwar, who is in Malaysia, as saying over the phone.

According to the report, those in police custody are Tej Bahadur Sunuwar of Dokhu VDC-3, Yam Shrestha and Lal Bahadur Darji of Fungling-2 of Taplejung, Prakash Puri of Sanya and two persons of Gulmi district.