175 illegal immigrants detained in KK, Penampang
KOTA KINABALU: A total of 175 illegal immigrants were detained by the National Security Council (NSC) during an integrated operation around the state capital and in Penampang.
Its Sabah director Rodzi Mat Saat said the 40-hours operation, which began at 1am on June 3 until 4pm on June 4, ended with 228 people detained for document inspection, and from the figures, 175 people were remanded for illegal entry.
“From the figure, 116 were Filipinos, 53 Filipinas, five Indonesian men and an Indonesian woman were detained for staying in the country illegally.
“They will be placed at the temporarily detention centre for further action before we deport them back to their country of origin,” he said when meet at the Tanjung Aru Community Hall at the end of the two-day operation, yesterday.
He said those detained would be investigated under Section 6(1)(c) and Section 15(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1956/63.
Rodzi meanwhile said since January, 1,278 illegal immigrants had been detained by the department during numerous integrated operations.
He added that there were currently 5,154 illegal immigrants still being detained and placed at four temporary detention centres in the state.
The temporary detention centre in Papar has the most illegal immigrants with 1,734 people, followed by Tawau (1,305), Kota Kinabalu (1,195) and Sibuga (920).
Rodzi also said since 1990, about 541,012 people had been deported back to their countries of origin while between January and May this year, NSC had deported 11,071 illegal immigrants to their home countries.
From the total, 9,069 were from the Philippines, 1,906 Indonesians and 96 from other countries, he said.