SHAH ALAM, Sept 10 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) caught 35 Indonesian illegal immigrants trying to sneak out of the country at a position 6.9 nautical miles southwest of Pantai Sekinchan early today.
Selangor MMEA director Maritime Captain Abdul Muhaimin Muhammad Salleh said the arrests of the immigrants, aged 18 to 50, were made after the Selangor maritime operations centre received information about a foreign fishing boat moving out of Sekinchan waters under suspicious circumstances.
An MMEA patrol boat was dispatched to the location to intercept the vessel.
"Arriving at the location at about midnight, the operation team found an Indonesian fishing boat without a registration number moving in the dark and ambushed it after tailing the vessel for 10 minutes.
"The boat was operated by a 35-year-old Indonesian skipper, and there were 30 men and four women sitting huddled under the deck of the boat as passengers without any valid identification documents," he said in a statement here today.
Abdul Muhaimin said all the foreigners and the boat were taken to the Pulau Indah marine police jetty for further investigation under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (ATIPSOM) Act 2007 and the Immigration Act 1959/63.
-- BERNAMA
