"Sixteen people have been detained, four of them are Sri Lankans, three Indonesians and nine Malaysians," Malaysian Police Chief Tan Sri Dato Sri Mohamad Fuzi Bin Harun said in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
He said Malaysian police (PDRM), in cooperation with the State Maritime Enforcement Agency (APMN) and the State Peguam (Lawyers) Office, has launched "OP Kenal Aplha 2/2018" operation and successfully crippled a series of human smuggling syndicate involving Sri Lankans.
"They use the maritime route in the Tanjung Priok Sea Region of Kota Tinggi in Johor High," he said.
He said a tanker on which letters "etra" are written was intercepted when it was moving out into international waters.
"A fishing boat belonging to local residents was also detained. With a registration number KTF 6102, the boat was used to transport migrants from land to the ship etra" he said.
Based on examination on the ship etra, he said, there were 131 Sri Lankan citizens comprising 98 men, 23 adult women, four boys and five girls.
"Three Indonesian adults and four local residents were found on board the fishing boat," he said.
He said among the arrested were four local residents in the vicinity of Johor Bahru, Johor and local residents in Bukit Mertajam, Pulau Pinang who were involved in organizing smuggled migrants.
"127 Sri Lankans were charged under Article 5 paragraph 2 of the 1959/63 Immigration Act for entering and exiting through unauthorized roads," he said.
(T.A014/B/KR-BSR/B/H-YH)
Reporter: antara
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
