KOTA KINABALU, Jan 29 — The Sabah Immigration Department of Malaysia (JIM) repatriated 8,678 undocumented immigrants last year by sending them back in batches at least twice a month.

"The repatriation was done 83 times, 41 occasions by sea and 42 by air. This year, we have sent back 1,529 undocumented immigrants as of January 25,” its director Datuk SH Sitti Saleha Habib Yusoff said.

Sabah JIM conducted 1,463 operations last year, which resulted in 30,918 people being screened, 4,108 arrested and 22 employers charged with various offences, she told a media conference here today.

Asked whether there was overcrowding at immigration detention depots in Sabah, SH Sitti Saleha said it only happened during the Covid-19 pandemic period because repatriation was suspended after the immigrants’ countries of origin closed their borders.

Meanwhile, she said four locals and 11 foreigners were arrested in an operation in Penampang near here last Saturday for suspected involvement in a human trafficking syndicate.

"The four locals, two men and two women aged 25 to 56, were masterminds smuggling foreigners from the Philippines into Sabah,” she said.

Immigration officers stopped a vehicle driven by one of the masterminds which was travelling from Sandakan to Kota Kinabalu and found eight foreigners inside.

She said the syndicate charged each immigrant between RM1,500 and RM2,500 and used Pulau Bakungan Besar in the Philippines as a transit point before smuggling them into Sabah.

"In a follow-up raid on a house, three more masterminds and three foreigners were arrested. The suspects will be placed at the Kota Kinabalu Immigration Detention Depot for investigation and further action,” she said.

She said among the offences identified were non-possession of identification documents, allowing undocumented immigrants to enter and stay at their premises and trafficking of immigrants. — Bernama