KOTA KINABALU: Sabah coastguards have intercepted a local fishing boat suspected of smuggling 12 people into the state through the northern waters of Tuaran, says the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).
Its director for Sabah and Labuan First Admiral Datuk Che Engku Suhaimi Che Engku Daik said the coastguards intercepted the boat, which was heading into the Tanjung Luk Pisuk waters in Tuaran, at about 5.45pm on Saturday.
He said the skipper and 12 passengers aged between 14 and 70 were arrested.
The boat was also seized to facilitate investigations under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007, Immigration Act 1959/63 and Sabah Ports and Docks Enactment 2002.
He said that among the offences were having a boat licence without the owner’s name and passengers showing dubious personal identification documents.
He said that one of the passengers had a Malaysian identity card, another had a social visit pass, four of them showed birth certificates while the others had no documents.
Among the passengers was a 52-year-old blind man and a family consisting of a father, his son and two daughters.
The children are aged between 14 and 23.
There were also four women aged between 55 and 66.
He said the fishing boat was first detected entering state waters under the Sabah Sea Surveillance System.
Coastguard vessels in operations were ordered to check on the boat.
Che Engku Suhaimi said MMEA would not compromise on groups trying to sneak into the state and would take action if they prevented the agency from carrying out its duties.
He urged maritime communities to continue assisting the agency by reporting any crime in state waters.
