TAWAU, Sept 3 — The National Security Council (MKN) deported 131 Indonesian undocumented migrants from the Tawau Ferry Terminal here to Nunukan, Indonesia today.

Sabah MKN director Sharifah Sitti Saleha Habib Yussof said the deportation was the 25th under its programme via the sea route.

"Like previous deportation programmes, all detainees underwent Covid-19 screening first before being sent away, apart from maintaining cleanliness throughout the process,” she said in a statement here.

Sharifah said that so far this year 6,155 undocumented migrants, including 221 from Pakistan, China, Vietnam, Hong Kong and South Korea, had been deported via air by the Immigration Department.

She said the presence of undocumented migrants from neighbouring countries in Sabah also jeopardised the government’s efforts to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. — Bernama