TAWAU: The number of illegal immigrants entering Sabah has dropped due to stringent border controls by the enforcement agencies, according to Rodzi Md. Saad, Sabah National Security Council (NSC) secretary.
Rodzi said Sabah NSC has carried out two operations to flush out illegal immigrants at construction sites, squatter houses (rumah kongsi), open spaces, livestock farms and business premises in Tuaran and Kota Belud over the last weekend.
During the operation, 357 immigrants were detained and 160 of them were sent to the documentation centre, following which 140 illegal immigrants (132 Filipinos and 8 Indonesians), aged between 18 months and 58 years, were remanded under the Immigration Act 1953/1969, while the remaining 20 were released.
Since January 17, this year, Sabah NSC have detained 853 illegal immigrants in four operations with 357 illegal immigrants (342 Filipinos and 15 Indonesians) remanded further, Rodzi told a press conference at the Temporary Detention Center (TDC) here yesterday morning.
He said the operation was led by Sabah NSC Operation Section assistant chief secretary, ACP Rosman Omar, together with 90 officers and personnel from NSC, immigration department, police, national registration department and RELA.
Up until yesterday, a total of 1,479 people have been deported, which consisted of 1,165 Filipinos and 314 Indonesians.
“Sabah NSC had undertaken 22 operations throughout 2014 and detained 2,080 people, consisting 1,636 from the Philippines, 430 from Indonesia and 14 from other places.
“Under Ops Bersepadu, the enforcement agencies which consist of NSC, police, immigration and other agencies had arrested 20,096 people in 2014.
“They are made up of 15,859 from Philippines, 3,768 from Indonesia and 469 from other places. The number deported last year was 18,288 people, consisting of 14,238 Filipinos, 3,782 Indonesians and 268 others,” Rodzi pointed out.
According to him, the operations had brought about positive impact to the state where all the assets and resources of each enforcement agency were fully utilized. It also establishes a strong team spirit and understanding in the mission to weed out illegal immigrants in the state.
However, he said, the success of the operations depends very much on intelligence information obtained and the problem of information leakage reduced to a very minimum level.
Rodzi added that they will continue with their operation at residential areas with focus on containing the probability of security threats to Sabah.
Meanwhile, Sabah NSC will maintain a cautious lookout for visitors who come to the Temporary Detention Center to visit their relatives or friends (illegal immigrants).
They would now be required to fill in a visit form and should possess valid documents before being allowed to visit.