SAMARAHAN: A 73-year-old illegal immigrant was among those detained during ‘Ops Benteng’ by the army for crossing the border without relevant papers on Tuesday (May 17).
The Malaysia First Infantry Division said there were two separate border crossing incidents – the arrests of transporters and illegal immigrants, and eviction of illegal immigrants at the border.
“On May 17 at 1.30pm, patrol unit detected two vehicles with two men and one woman heading towards the border from Malaysia.
“They were seen driving through the Tetangga Akrab palm oil plantation, which is seven kilometres from the Malaysia-Indonesia border.
“At 3.30pm, the unit stopped the vehicles that were coming back from the border. The two men and the woman were transporting 13 illegal immigrants aged between 17 and 73 years from Indonesia. Among them were two women from Indonesia,” said the Malaysia First Infantry Division said in a statement.
The individuals and confiscated items worth around RM73,643 including vehicles, cash and 11 phones, were handed over to Lundu police for investigation.
In another incident at 10.30pm, patrol unit found nine suspicious individuals in a palm oil plantation about 150 metres from the border.
The nine individuals detained, including a woman, were Indonesians ages between 16 and 48 years.
“They came into the country illegally using illegal routes. However, inspections from the unit found no prohibited goods except for personal items and clothing in their bags.
“A police report has been made at Lundu police station and the nine illegal immigrants were sent back to their country at Pos Semunying at 12.30am,” the army stated.
