Nearly 200 'Bangladeshis' crammed into Indonesia shophouse: police

Almost 200 men identified by police as Bangladeshi have been found crammed into a shophouse in Indonesia, authorities said Wednesday.

Police in the city of Medan on Sumatra island were tipped off to the group by suspicious residents who lived nearby.

When police raided the shophouse on Tuesday they found some 192 men, mostly in their twenties, occupying the two-storey building with many complaining about lack of food, authorities said.

Officials said they believed the men had arrived from Bangladesh and were living in the cramped quarters for several months in the hopes of going to neighbouring Malaysia for work.

"We think they arrived here by boat. They don't have any documents," said head of Medan immigration Fery Monang Sihite.

"We're still questioning them and will later decide whether we need to deport them or not."