Over 30,000 illegals deported since Covid-19 pandemic began, says minister

PETALING JAYA: The Immigration Department has deported over 30,000 illegal migrants since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, says Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Ismail Sabri said as of last Thursday (Nov 5), 31,282 illegals had been deported to their respective countries, with Indonesians making up the bulk at 14,072 deportations.

This was followed by those from Bangladesh (4,551), Myanmar (2,898), Thailand (2,200), India (2,189), China (1,856), Pakistan (1,230), Vietnam (647), Nepal (397), Philippines (298) and others (944).

Under Ops Benteng, various security forces and border control agencies in the country have focused on beefing up enforcement activities against undocumented migrants.

Ismail Sabri said on Sunday (Nov 8), 22 undocumented migrants were detained and three vehicles seized under the operation.

Police, he added, also took action against 717 individuals for defying the movement control order (MCO) on Sunday, with 704 of them being issued compounds for various violations.

Among the violations were not adhering to physical distancing measures (205), not wearing face masks (118), failure to provide entry log equipment (73), operating beyond the allowed time (73), entertainment outlet activities (103), crossing district or state borders in places under the conditional MCO (63) and exceeding the allowed passenger limit in a vehicle (37)/

The task force monitoring the compliance to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) also conducted 50,962 checks on Saturday, said Ismail Sabri.