Sabah Immigration Dept nabs 141 during major raid in Keningau
KOTA KINABALU: A total of 141 illegal immigrants from the Philippines and Indonesia were detained during a major operation by the Immigration Department in Sabah's interior Keningau district.
Sabah Immigration Department director Datuk Sitti Saleha Habib Yussof reported that 216 people were checked during the operation, with 141 foreigners detained on suspicion of committing various immigration offences.
Those detained include 10 men, 38 women, 38 boys, and 31 girls from the Philippines, as well as 16 men, six adult women, and two girls from Indonesia.
Sitti Saleha stated that all those arrested were sent to the Papar Immigration Detention Depot for investigation and further action under various offences of the Immigration Act 1959/63.
Illegal immigrants being detainedby Immigration officers following a raid in illegal settlements in Keningau.
In a statement on Wednesday (Jan 30), she noted that the predawn operations on Tuesday (Jan 29) were carried out following public complaints and intelligence gathered over a month against two specific migrant settlements in the interior district.
Some 84 immigration enforcement officers from Keningau, Tenom, Ranau, Sipitang, and Kota Kinabalu conducted the raid with the assistance of RELA personnel in Keningau. The raid took place from 12.30am to 4am on Tuesday.
Sitti Saleha affirmed that her department will continue to take firm action against anyone found to have committed offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63, the Passport Act 1966, the Immigration Regulations 1963, and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 (ATIPSOM).
"We will also act against those harbouring or employing illegal immigrants," she added.
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Documentation Centre of Cambodia Director Youk Chhang said the 'pettiness' depicted by Thailand is not a characteristic of a mature international power. 'Trivial actions like the use of a slingshot or the revocation of a degree are certainly two distinctly different things that should be addressed differently, but they encompass one common problem, which is the proclivity of a party to an armed conflict to attempt to skirt, muddle or otherwise blur a peace agreement through petty acts that are only meant to aggravate the other party,' he said. Asian Vision Institute President Chheng Kimlong said Cambodia must put in more effort to collect evidence of the ceasefire violations and provocations in the past to set a strong foundation for international debates and legal battles. 'In addition to the daily update on what is happening at the border, the Ministry of National Defence must also give detailed presentations on these violating and provocative actions by Thailand,' he said. 'Cambodian diplomats and ambassadors must also give the presentations to the international organisations and countries they have been assigned to.' Kimlong called on the US and China, both of which played key roles in helping Cambodia and Thailand reach a ceasefire, to closely monitor the implementation and take serious measures against the party who violated the agreement. 'If it is discovered that Thailand has seriously violated international laws, the US should revoke crucial alliance treaties with Thailand, including the 1966 Treaty of Amity,' he said. 'Disciplinary actions need to be taken to show that no country can go free for insulting global security and stability.' - Khmer Times
