918 illegal immigrants deported to the Philippines

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Several women with their children were among those deported to the Philippines.

SANDAKAN: National Security Council (NSC) Sabah has deported 918 illegal immigrants from the Philippines who were arrested in the state back to their country of origin via MV Antonia ship at Sandakan Port here, Tuesday.

According to Deputy Director of NSC Sabah, Muhammad Hafiz Abdul Rahim, NSC has been working together with the Royal Malaysia Police, Immigration Department, State Health Department as well as other agencies in the mission to deport the illegal immigrants from the Philippines and Indonesia to their countries.

He said that NSC has planned to deport 3,800 Filipinos and 109 Indonesians to their respective countries this month.

Illegal immigrants from Indonesia arrested in Sabah are deported back to their country from Tawau.

“This makes a total of 11,340 illegal immigrants who are arrested in Sabah sent back to the Philippines and Indonesia in 2019,” he said.

Hafiz said that the deportation of detainees to the Philippines has been conducted in Sandakan Port weekly.

The journey from Sandakan to Zamboanga takes about 16 to 18 hours.

“It takes about three months to get the relevant travel documents for the detainees from all relevant parties including the Philippines’ authority before they could be deported.

“That is how we decide the number of people to be deported back to the Philippines in one trip — the number of detainees who have complete travel documents ready, as well as the capacity of the
ship (maximum 1,000 people for MV Antonia ship),” he explained.

The Borneo Post was at the Sandakan Port when the illegal immigrants boarded the ship and saw that they were treated with care by the NSC personnel.

About 10 of the detainees were also seen carrying infants, but they were assisted by the NSC
personnel who were present when needed.

All the deported illegal immigrants were from the Temporary Detention Centre in Sibuga here and in Kota Kinabalu.