Over 1,000 migrants arrested at illegal entry points taken into custody - Ismail
All 1,408 individuals arrested for attempting to enter Malaysia via illegal routes during the movement control order (MCO) period have been taken into Immigration detention, according to Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
Ismail said this was as they had already crossed into Malaysian borders or waters and as such were subjected to Malaysian Immigration laws...
All 1,408 individuals arrested for attempting to enter Malaysia via illegal routes during the movement control order (MCO) period have been taken into Immigration detention, according to Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
Ismail said this was as they had already crossed into Malaysian borders or waters and as such, they were subjected to our immigration laws.
"The Immigration Department has two procedures. For those who have yet to make it within our borders, we will chase them out.
"We have heard before this there were several Rohingya boats, they did not make it into our borders and we chased them out," said Ismail who once again denied that the authorities had dealt with the situation in an inhumane manner.
"We are not cruel... We gave them food before we chased them away," he said in reference to an April 16 incident of a boat with about 200 Rohingya being ordered to turn back after it was spotted in the waters of Langkawi by a Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) C-130H surveillance aircraft.
On the same day, Reuters reported that at least two dozen Rohingyas had died on a ship that was drifting for weeks after failing to reach Malaysia, with 382 other survivors rescued from starvation.
As for any individuals arrested for illegal entry after they had crossed Malaysian borders, Ismail said they would be taken to the nearest Immigration depot before being charged under the law.
"Those who have already crossed our borders, we can't chase them away.
"According to international laws, the (destination) country must bring them to land if found at sea," he said.
In such cases, Ismail said migrants arrested at sea or land will be placed on trial here and eventually deported at their own costs.
The senior minister in charge of the security cluster previously defended Putrajaya's ongoing crackdown against undocumented migrants who are already in the country, arguing that they could not be allowed to walk free after having broken the country's law.
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