769 Filipino detainees deported

Deportation of Filipinos.

KOTA KINABALU: A total of 769 Philippine nationals, including 191 children, have been deported to their home country.

Sabah Immigration Department director Datuk Sitti Saleha Habib Yussof said the group was sent to Zamboanga City via sea on Thursday.

Prior to their deportation, they had spent months, and in some cases years, in custody at Immigration depots in Papar, Sandakan and Tawau.

Sitti Saleha said the group of illegal immigrants comprised 438 men, 140 women, 98 boys and 93 girls, aged between three months and 73.

“This is part of our ongoing efforts to deport all the detainees in our detention centres statewide,” she said.

A total of 4,762 Filipinos have been deported so far this year.