69,554 illegals deported
KOTA KINABALU: The government spends at least RM13 million annually to manage illegal immigrants in Sabah.
State National Security Council (NSC) secretary Rodzi Md Saad said the cost involved expenditures for operations, food, temporary detention centres and transportation to deport the illegal immigrants.
He said the government constantly improved the management of illegal immigrants to curb their inf lux into the State.
“This month, NSC through the Special Taskforce for Sabah and Labuan has carried out a series of Operasi Tanduk Bersepadu in four districts, namely Kota Kinabalu, Penampang, Tawau and Lahad Datu.
“A total of 1,066 people suspected to be illegal immigrants were inspected in the operation and we successfully arrested 423 illegal immigrants.
“Of the number of people checked, 374 are f rom Kota Kinabalu and Penampang, while 248 and 444 are from Lahad Datu and Tawau respectively,” Rodzi said in a press conference here yesterday.
Out of the people arrested, 165 were from Kota Kinabalu and Penampang.
He added that 92 illegal immigrants were nabbed in Lahad Datu and 166 in Tawau.
Since 2010, Rodzi said 69,554 illegal immigrants have been deported back to their home countries.
“Close to 80 per cent of that figure were illegal immigrants from the Philippines, 20.5 per cent from Indonesia while the remaining from other countries.
“The deportation process was carried out after we received visas verified by the respective embassies of the countries.
“For the time being, we only accept IMM.13 documents issued by the Sabah Immigration Department.”
Rodzi said all arrests carried out by the Special Taskforce was under the Immigration Act 1959/63 (Amended 2002).
He said the Temporary Detention Centre in Menggatal that would soon be in operation would increase the capacity to 2,500. Rodzi said the three existing Temporary Detention Centres in Sabah could accommodate up to 5,500 illegal immigrants.