KUCHING, March 2 — A five-year-old Indonesian boy was among 12 individuals detained under Ops Benteng at a workers’ quarters believed used as a transit point for immigrants at Tebedu, Serian, about 100km from here, today.

Sarawak General Operations Force (GOF) commander SAC Mancha Ata said acting on intelligence, a team of police from the 11th Battalion Intelligence Unit and Op Benteng Task Force units raided the house at 4.30am.

"Upon inspection, they found 12 Indonesians comprising of nine men, two women and the boy, aged five to 48.

"They did not have any travel documents to enter Malaysia. They were then asked to return to their origin country via the Tebedu Immigration, Customs, Quarantine, and Security (ICQS) main entrance,” he said in a statement here today.

Mancha said the eviction process was done under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Disease Act 1988 and Section 6 (1) of the Immigration Act 1959. — Bernama