KOTA KINABALU: A total of 141 illegal immigrants from the Philippines and Indonesia were detained during a major operation by the Immigration Department in Sabah's interior Keningau district.
Sabah Immigration Department director Datuk Sitti Saleha Habib Yussof reported that 216 people were checked during the operation, with 141 foreigners detained on suspicion of committing various immigration offences.
Those detained include 10 men, 38 women, 38 boys, and 31 girls from the Philippines, as well as 16 men, six adult women, and two girls from Indonesia.
Sitti Saleha stated that all those arrested were sent to the Papar Immigration Detention Depot for investigation and further action under various offences of the Immigration Act 1959/63.
In a statement on Wednesday (Jan 30), she noted that the predawn operations on Tuesday (Jan 29) were carried out following public complaints and intelligence gathered over a month against two specific migrant settlements in the interior district.
Some 84 immigration enforcement officers from Keningau, Tenom, Ranau, Sipitang, and Kota Kinabalu conducted the raid with the assistance of RELA personnel in Keningau. The raid took place from 12.30am to 4am on Tuesday.
Sitti Saleha affirmed that her department will continue to take firm action against anyone found to have committed offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63, the Passport Act 1966, the Immigration Regulations 1963, and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 (ATIPSOM).
"We will also act against those harbouring or employing illegal immigrants," she added.
