IPOH: The marine police have arrested 22 Indonesians who are trying to illegally travel back to Indonesia near the coast of Bagan Datuk.
Perak police chief Comm Datuk Noor Hisam Nordin said the arrests were made at about 10 nautical miles from the coast of Bagan Sungai Tiang in Rungkup on Sunday (March 8) at about 10.50am.
"The police received information from the public about the presence of a suspicious boat believed to be ferrying undocumented migrants.
"Acting on the information, the marine police moved to the location and found the boat to be ferrying the immigrants," he said in a statement on Monday (March 9).
"Those arrested included the one boat captain, 36, his two assistants, 33 and 34," he said, adding an unnumbered wooden boat with cooking and navigation equipment was also seized.
"We also found 10 males, eight females, and one child, all aged five to 62.
"All those arrested have been brought to the marine police's headquarters in Kampung Acheh for the next course of action," he added.
Comm Noor Hisam said the case would be investigated under Section 26A of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act and Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act.
"The boat captain and the two assistants will be remanded for 28 days from March 9 until April 5.
"The 19 Indonesians would be remanded under the Immigration Act for 14 days until March 22," he said.
"The operation's success was due to the cooperation with the community.
"We call on the people to continue channelling information related to crime to the police so that actions can be taken to ensure Perak is safe and peaceful," he added.
