Crackdown on illegals way below target: police
The government's crackdown against illegal immigrants has met with disappointing results a week after it was launched in Sabah, police said today.
The operation, targetted at three rural districts, led to the detention of 283 illegal workers and the demolition of 625 houses - way below the target of 10,000 migrants, said a state capital police spokesman.
"They've all disappeared, some have gone back and some are hiding," he told AFP .
"We believe that word must have gone out before the operation and so many of the illegals were prepared."
The official said police were not demoralised by the low haul and would focus on "going all out" to detain and deport the migrants.
"I cannot say for sure how they might have known about the operation, could have been (through an internal leak), or through other illegals," he added.
The police spokesman said those arrested, mainly Indonesian and Filipino workers, were kept at detention centres in the state and would be deported at the end of the operation.
Zero entry
The crackdown is the second phase of a similar action in February in Sabah's coastal areas where thousands of Filipino workers were deported in the state's biggest ever offensive.
Up to half-a-million Filipinos live in Sabah, many of them having entered illegally to work in the resources-rich territory.
The action in Sabah is in line with a tougher approach throughout Malaysia following the government's announcement in February that it would tighten coastal security as it aims for zero illegal entry this year.
Malaysia is home to about one million illegal immigrants and some 750,000 legal foreign workers, mainly from Indonesia.
For more news and views that matter, subscribe and support independent media for only RM0.36 sen a day:
Subscribe now