The government has started the mass repatriation of illegal immigrants in Sabah as 400 Filipinos were shipped out of the state on Tuesday evening.

State Security Council director Datuk Rodzi Saad said the deportees, aged between one and 60, were from the temporary detention centre in Sandakan and were sent to the southern Philippine island of Zamboanga on board the MV Lady Mary Joy 3 ferry about 6pm on Tuesday.

“This effort is a sign of the government’s commitment to tackle the issue of illegal immigrants in this state,” he said in a statement yesterday.

The detainees were meant to be deported back more than a month ago but the usual ferry, MV Danica Joy 2, sank at the Zamboanga port on September 22.

Last Saturday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte had in their meeting agreed to take back his country’s people who have illegally made Sabah their home.

Najib added that the Malaysian Navy would even provide the ships if necessary.

He said that the state would start sending back some 7,000 detainees it currently had in its detention centres.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by The Borneo Post

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]