KOTA KINABALU, Sept 24 — Some 400 illegal immigrants have been deported back to their country of origin by the National Security Council.

Sabah National Security Council (NSC) director Siti Saleha bt Habib Yussof said the illegal immigrants were deported back to Zamboanga, the Philippines from the Sandakan port on September 23.

She said the deportation was the 27th in the series for 2020 since the operation began and NSC had since deported 6,859 people, including 259 illegal immigrants from Pakistan, China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Korea and other countries.

In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, every deportee was screened to prevent the spread of the virus, said Siti Saleha. — Borneo Post