KENINGAU: The Federal Special Task Force (FSTF) arrested 510 illegal immigrants during Ops Tanduk here and in Tenom on May 17 and 18.
“Of the number, 342 people were detained for further action after the screening at the documentation centre at Bingkor Community Hall,” Sabah and Labuan FSTF director Dato Haji Mohd Suhaimi Salleh disclosed here on Sunday.
He said the operation ended on Sunday night and all the illegal immigrants arrested had been sent to detention centres before being sent back to their home country.
“So far, 5,250 illegal immigrants from the state had been evicted as of May, where 4,444 were Filipinos, 795 Indonesians and 98 were from China, Pakistan and other countries,” he said.
Suhaimi said Ops Tanduk involved a total of 81 personnel from FSTF, the Immigration Department, the National Registration Department and the Royal Malaysian Police from this district and Tenom.
He said all the illegal immigrants held during this operation throughout the state, had been sent to detention centres in Papar, totalling 2,115, Tawau (1,550) and a total of 1,183 illegal immigrants had been sent to Sibuga, Sandakan.
“As usual, when the three centres face congestion, we would put the detainees in temporary detention centres. At this point all three centres are crowded,” he added.
Suhaimi said to address this problem, the illegal immigrants were sent back twice a week to Zamboanga in The Philippines and Nunukan in Indonesia.