KUALA LUMPUR Jan 28 — A total of 17 Indonesians were arrested on suspicion of entering Malaysia illegally at Pantai Teluk Punggai, Kota Tinggi, Johor early today.

The Malaysian 3rd Infantry Division headquarters, in a statement today, said that 13 men and four women, aged 24 to 48, were detained at around 2am in the Malaysian 7th Infantry Brigade’s "Op Benteng” sector.

"The Malaysian Maritime Sea Surveillance System (Swasla) detected suspicious boat movement from Pulau Batan to Malaysian waters at 10.50pm yesterday.

"At 1.30am, observation post personnel detected a boat landing at Pantai Teluk Pungai and arrested 16 illegal immigrants (and) another individual was detained based on tracking information from the drones of the Defence Intelligence Staff Division,” it said.

During the arrests, cash of various currencies, watches, jewellery and mobile phones estimated to be worth RM25,262.14 were also seized.

"All of them were taken to the Tanjung Sepang tactical base to undergo checks and Covid-19 screenings before being handed over to the Immigration Department,” the statement read. — Bernama