The deportees boarding the ferry at the Tawau port.
KOTA KINABALU: A total of 68 Indonesian citizens were sent home to their country of origin in a deportation exercise by the Immigration Department on Tuesday (June 27).
The detainees, who were earlier placed under custody at the Tawau depot, boarded the Mid East Express ferry from the district depot bound for the Tunon Taka terminal at Nunukan Port in Indonesia.
Sabah Immigration director Datuk Sharifah Sitti Saleha Habib Yusoff said this was the 14th series in their deportation programme this year.
She said the detainees, aged between 19 and 62, comprised 63 men and five women.
"There were no children deported this time," she said in a statement here on Wednesday (June 28).
Those deported were earlier detained for various immigration violations under the Immigration Act 1959/63 and Immigration Rules 1963.
Sitti Saleha reminded foreign nationals to ensure they possessed valid travel documents as well as work permits that allowed them to work in Sabah.
"All enforcement agencies in the state will vigilantly monitor the situation and take firm action against those who do not follow the laws of the country," she said.
She added the deportation exercise was also a continuous operation by the Immigration Department to send home detainees kept at depots statewide.
The deportation, she said, would be carried out once the process of law was completed and getting confirmation from the respective embassies.
"We are committed towards enforcing the law as well as deporting undocumented migrants," she said, thanking the state government, Indonesian Consulate General, the police and other related agencies involved in the exercise.
