Some of the 450 illegal immigrants boarding a ship to Zamboanga at Sandakan Port.
SANDAKAN: A total 450 illegal immigrants were repatriated to their native land of the Philippines via Sandakan Port to Zamboanga on Friday night.
National Security Council secretary Datuk Rodzi Md Saad said out of the total, 254 are men, 112 are women and 84 are children aged between one and 66.
The operation to repatriate illegal immigrants involved those detained at Sibuga Temporary Detention Centre and Papar Temporary Detention Centre.
“This brings the number of illegal immigrants deported to their countries from January 1 to November 25 this year to 20,026 people,” he said.
For the record 549,997 illegal immigrants who either voluntarily or repatriated home to their countries of origin since 1990.
“The efforts to deport all these illegal immigrants are being continuously carried out by National Security Council. The deportation process was conducted twice a week from Sandakan Port and once a week from Tawau.
“The deportation of illegal immigrants proves that State Government is serious to curb the illegal immigrants issue,” he said.
Meanwhile, a total of 59 illegal immigrants comprising 41 Filipinos and 18 Indonesian were nabbed in an integrated operation conducted by the NSC with other enforcement agencies, in Keningau yesterday.
Rodzi said all illegal immigrants were brought to Papar Temporary Detention Centre while waiting for further investigation result and repatriation process.