KOTA KINABALU: Two Malaysians and a China national could face up to five years' jail and be fined a maximum of Indonesian Rupiah 500mil (about RM150,000) for abusing their tourist visa while in the shared island of Sebatik.
Nunukan Immigration officer Lukie Reza Kusumah said that their investigations have begun to see if the three foreigners had violated Indonesia's immigration law under Article 122 for abusing their visit pass to carry out business.
He said they were coordinating with the Nunukan district prosecutor's office regarding the status of the three foreigners.
"We have opened an investigation paper into the case where the three foreigners (based in Sabah) were initially arrested for suspected spying as pictures of Indonesian naval establishments at the shared island of Sebatik on July 20 were found in one of their handphones," Lukie told Kalimantan-based TribunKaltara.com on Monday (July 25).
He said that Article 122 of the Immigration Law states that any foreigner who intentionally abuses or carries out activities that are not in accordance with the intent and purpose of their visa or entry permit can be sentenced to a maximum imprisonment of five years and a maximum fine of Rp500mil.
The three were arrested with three other Indonesians including one suspect who allegedly had both Indonesian and Malaysian identity documents.
Lukie said that the two foreigners from Malaysia used visa-free border crossing short visit passes while the China citizen used a visit visa upon arrival for special tours.
Initial investigations showed that the three together with their Indonesian counterparts were apparently taking pictures around the naval installations on the Indonesian side of Sebatik for the closest location for building a bridge from Sebatik to mainland Tawau.
Nunukan Immigration officials said that the trio should be using a business visa and not tourists or visit visas.
No decision has yet been made on whether the three would be charged for the immigration offence as investigations were still in progress.
Under Indonesian Immigration law, they were detained for 30-days since their arrests.
