PONTIAN, June 17 — Despite the fact that the whole country is now placed under the recovery movement control order (RMCO), which sees the easing on restrictions, Malaysia’s national maritime areas are still tightly guarded and remain closed to outsiders in the effort to curb the spread of Covid-19.
At present, the focus of surveillance is on locations that include Parit Jawa and Sungai Muar in Muar, Sungai Semerah and Sungai Ayam in Batu Pahat, Sungai Buntu and Sungai Api-Api in Pontian — areas identified as hotspots and entry points for immigrants and the smuggling of banned goods into Johor.
Exposing the matter, Johor Maritime Operations deputy director captain Sanifah Yusof said the state’s west coast areas had become the favourite landing points for immigrants and smugglers as they were surrounded by mangroves, making it difficult for the authorities to approach.
“The immigrants’ modus operandi is to enter the coastal area by boat during high tide and into the mangrove forest because they know these areas would restrict MMEA’s boat movements because of its shallow waters,” Sanifah told Bernama reporters who followed the Op Benteng operations of Johor MMEA along Pontian waters recently.
According to Sanifah, there was a high possibility that illegal immigrants would make new attempts to enter Malaysia after Hari Raya Aidilfitri now that the government had announced the reopening of most economic sectors under the RMCO.
Therefore, he said, it is the Johor MMEA’s responsibility to conduct closer surveillance and monitoring on the state’s waters via the Op Benteng operations specifically on the hotspots along the Melaka Straits to contain the influx of illegal immigrants to Malaysia.
Op Benteng, activated since last month under the National Task Force, is the collaboration between the Malaysian Armed Forces, Royal Malaysia Police, MMEA, Ministry of Health, Malaysia Civil Defence Force, Immigration Department and the People’s Volunteer Corps.
Sanifah said Johor MMEA surveillance covers the state’s west coast starting from the waters of Sungai Kesang in Muar to the west of Johor Causeway which includes 231 kilometres of areas along the coast off Straits of Melaka or 125 nautical miles with an area of 3,889 square kilometres.
While on the east coast, he said, it involves the eastern side of the Johor Causeway up until the borders of Pahang, 254 kilometres stretching along the coast or 137 nautical miles with an area of 10,445 square kilometres.
He said the surveillance task involves all 500 personnel from the Batu Pahat Maritime Zone, Tanjung Sedili Maritime Zone as well as Mersing Maritime Zone using 11 ships and 21 fast intervention boats owned by the agency.
To facilitate surveillance, Johor MMEA is assisted by aerial patrol coordinated by the MMEA headquarters in Putrajaya and two Sea Surveillance System radars in Tanjung Piai, Pontian and Segenting, Batu Pahat, which are operational 24 hours to monitor the presence of ships and boats.
Throughout last year, 37,141 inspections were mounted on ships and boats in the state’s waters, and between January and June 9 this year, 18,275 checks were conducted including 11,064 since the movement control order (MCO) came into force.
As the result, 170 arrest cases were made throughout last year while 108 arrests were made since January until June 9 this year, all for the offences committed under the Fisheries Act 1985, Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952, Customs Act 1967, Immigration Act 1959/63 and the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
The value of seizures last year was recorded at RM138.6 million, while this year, RM32.4 million worth of seizures was recorded so far.
The cumulative amount of fines slapped on the offenders last year were RM1.8 million, he said, adding that between January and June 9 this year, the cumulative amount of fines had reached RM884,000. — Bernama
