12 illegal immigrants caught trying to leave country by boat at night


ISKANDAR PUTERI: They had paid RM2,000 each to be smuggled out of the country, but the bid by a dozen illegal immigrants to leave under the cover of darkness was foiled.

Police stopped their boat and arrested the 12, along with the four others who were coordinating the operation, at about 12.30am on Wednesday.

Iskandar Puteri OCPD Asst Comm M. Kumarasan said two of the 16 arrested were the tekong darat (ground coordinators), while another two were the tekong laut (sea coordinators).

“We believe the immigrants were previously at a transit house in Johor Jaya before being transported to Tanjung Kupang, where they were to board a boat to Batam, Indonesia.

“The suspects, aged between 21 and 39, are all Indonesians,” he said, adding that the sea coordinators were paid RM150 for each immigrant they smuggled, while the ground coordinators received RM300 for each.

“There are also agents here and in Indonesia who are communicating with each other to run the operation, which has been active since November last year.

“The illegal immigrants were paying RM2,000 each to leave Malaysia and RM3,000 each to enter this country,” he said.

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ACP Kumarasan said the case was being investigated under Section 26A of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (Atipsom) Act 2007 and Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act.

“The illegal immigrants have been remanded for 14 days.

“Meanwhile, the four suspects involved in operating the syndicate have been remanded for 28 days under Section 4(5) of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma),” he said.

On an unrelated matter, ACP Kumarasan also said police have arrested two foreigners in the Nusa Bestari area for smuggling drugs.

“A 43-year-old Bangladeshi and 39-year-old Indonesian were arrested on Friday with over 2kg of drugs worth about RM373,664.

“We believe that they have been operating from an apartment with one of them acting as a runner,” he said.

The drugs consisted of ecstasy powder, cannabis, syabu, heroin and Eramin 5 pills.

He said that both suspects tested positive for drugs.

“They have been remanded for six days, starting from Jan 26 under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952,” he said.

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police , immigrants , arrest , human smuggling

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