STAR wants tighter screening of foreigners entering Sarawak

KUCHING: State Reform Party Sarawak (STAR) is calling on Putrajaya and the Sarawak government to make it harder for foreign nationals to enter the state, as a pre-emptive measure against terror groups spreading their wings. Its president Lina Soo said the arrest of three terror suspects in Serian, including an Egyptian national, had sent shockwaves across the state.

“Has Sarawak’s border been compromised by terrorists? How could the police and Immigration Department have overlooked the foreigner’s entry into the state?

“Sarawakians deserve answers on whether security in Sarawak, and Malaysia as a whole, has been breached. We must not allow this kind of threat to take root, especially in our state,” she said at a press conference here yesterday.

In a statement on Sunday, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun said the 21-year-old Egyptian was arrested together with a Malaysian man and woman in Serian on Feb 2 by the Special Branch’s Counter Terrorism Division.

He said the Egyptian is believed to be a fighter for the Ansar AlShariah Al-Tunisia terror group, which is part of the al-Qaeda terrorist network operating in North Africa.

According to him, the three suspects are believed to have concealed information on the presence of Ansar Al-Shariah AlTunisia’s operatives who transited in Malaysia.

“They protected them and acted as a facilitator in providing lodging, jobs and purchasing of flight tickets,” said Mohamad Fuzi of the trio, adding six other Egyptians and Tunisians were also arrested in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor between Feb 2 and Feb 9.

He also said all seven foreigners were deported to their home countries on March 5 and have been blacklisted in Malaysia.

Soo, meanwhile, lamented the ‘alarming’ presence of foreigners in Sarawak, who operate businesses and also go door-to-door selling carpets and mattresses in places such as Bau.

“Therefore, STAR urges both the federal government and the Sarawak government to check on these suspicious foreigners who are doing door-to-door businesses in the villages because if unchecked, it can be a threat not just to the local people but also to the state and country.”