JOHOR BARU: Eighteen Indonesians believed to be involved in the smuggling of illegal immigrants were detained at a transit house by the Immigration Department in Pontian, last night (November 9).
Johor Immigration director, Baharuddin Tahir, said an intelligence monitoring for about two weeks led to the arrest of all suspects aged between 24 and 51 at 11.45pm last night.
He said 15 men and one woman were illegal immigrants, while one man and one woman, who have permanent resident and temporary resident status were believed to be acting as transporters.
"The syndicate is targeting illegal immigrants who have been blacklisted to enter Malaysia and those who want to leave the country through the west coast of Johor.
"They charge a fee of RM2,500 to RM3,500 for a one-way trip and during the inspection, there were two private vehicles believed to be used for such an activity," he said in a statement today (November 10).
All 16 illegal immigrants will be sent to their country of origin, while a man and a woman who acted as transporters, have been remanded since yesterday until November 22 under Section 6(1)(c) and Section 56(1)(d) of the Immigration Act 1959/63.
Baharuddin said members of the public who have any information regarding such an activity, are advised to channel information to the Immigration Department. --BERNAMA
