Muhammad shaking hands with GOF personnel during his working visit to the Sabah GOF headquarters in Kinarut yesterday.
KINARUT: The General Operations Forces (GOF) is ready to carry out special operations along the state’s east coast waters to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the state.
Director of Homeland Security and Public Order (Bukit Aman), Datuk Seri Muhammad Sabtu Osman, said he had instructed all GOF battalions to be ready and utilize all appropriate assets for the operations.
“We will carry out the (water) operations and I have instructed all battalion commanders to be ready and to monitor all coastal areas that may be used by illegal immigrants.
“However, GOF is facing some challenges in terms of appropriate assets such as boats for operations.
“That is why we are working together with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) and the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom) to protect our waters from any entry by illegal immigrants,” he said yesterday after he was asked to comment on the statement by Deputy Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Noor Rashid Ibrahim on the implementation of operations involving security agencies to monitor any individual found to be entering the country illegally, especially along the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (ESSZone) on Monday.
“At the moment, we are reinforcing patrols along the waters off Sabah and there is a need for some restructuring.
“At the same time, we are also discussing ways to strengthen the manpower by providing additional assets to GOF such as patrol boats,” he said during his working visit to the GOF headquarters in Kinarut yesterday.
Also present was GOF commander SAC Zainudian Samsul Hadi.