SABAH IMMIGRATION REPATRIATES ANOTHER180 FILIPINOS TO BONGAO PORT

LAHAD DATU, Dec 13 (Bernama) -- The Sabah Immigration Department (JIM) repatriated another 180 Filipinos who are illegal immigrants through the Immigration, Customs, Quarantine and Security (ICQS) Complex here to Bongao Port in the Philippines (Tawi-Tawi province, Mindanao) today.

Immigration director Datuk Sh Sitti Saleha Habib Yussof said the shipment involved detainees at the Sandakan immigration depot comprising 84 men, 61 women, 15 boys and 20 girls, aged between 1 and 65.

"This is a programme for the transfer of detained illegal immigrant in the deportable category by sea for the year 2024, the detainees involved are those who have committed offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63 and the Immigration Regulations 1963, (and) the detainees have (also) served a prison sentence," she said in a statement here today.

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In the meantime, she said the deportation is a self-financing programme and the ferry ticket charged to returning foreign detainees includes a bus transport charge from Sandakan to Lahad Datu worth RM375 for adults.

"The charge for children aged 5 to 13 is RM210 while for children aged 4 and below is free," she added.

Meanwhile, she said JIM Sabah has recorded the repatriation of 5,683 Filipinos (to their country of origin) through sea transport since the beginning of the year until today.

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"All these detainees will be blacklisted in the JIM system according to the type of offence committed," she added.

In addition, Sh Sitti Saleha said prosecution action will be taken on employers and shop owners who employed foreign nationals without valid travel documents and passports, in addition to those who violate the conditions of passports or permits.

-- BERNAMA