.jpg "Police and Armed Forces personnel conduct checks on a fishing boat in Kampung Pulau Betong in Balik Pulau April 8, 2020. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Sayuti Zainudin")
KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 — Authorities detained 704 undocumented migrants and 125 skippers for illegal entry between May 1 and yesterday, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said.
In his daily press briefing broadcast live from Putrajaya, the defence minister said that 12 suspected human traffickers were also detained while 14 boats have been seized.
The enforcement agencies also successfully turned away 164 undocumented migrants, six skippers and 27 boats which tried to penetrate the country’s borders.
“The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) also conducted 49 roadblocks under ‘Ops Benteng’ nationwide, and checked 40,969 vehicles to prevent the entrance of undocumented migrants, especially via rat lanes,” he said, adding that the government would take stern action against those entering the country illegally, and working with human traffickers.
On a separate development, Ismail Sabri said that the police carried out 67,998 checks to ensure compliance with the recovery movement control order’s (RMCO) rules, with 3,473 teams comprising 16,811 personnel involved in the special taskforce on the matter.
He said that police detained five people for violating the RMCO and compounded 25 others for various offences.
