By William Isau
LUBOK ANTU, Jan 23: Police here thwarted a suspected attempt by a local man to smuggle in five illegal immigrants (Pati) from Indonesia last night.
Lubok Antu District Police Chief Deputy Supt Victor Ripon said the 41-year-old man was arrested by a team of policemen stationed at a roadblock at Jalan Entugam last night.
He said after the police team stopped a Proton Saga car driven by the suspect, they found that the car was carrying five male passengers who were acting in a suspicious manner.
“Further examination found that all of them did not have any valid identity documents and they were taken to the Lubok Antu Police Station for further action,” he said in a statement today.
Victor revealed this was the second arrest in a week involving locals trying to smuggle illegal immigrants into Sarawak through Lubok Antu.
“All five men arrested, aged between 26 and 32, said they were brought in illegally from Badau, West Kalimantan, Indonesia,” he said.
He said the local man would be remanded for 28 days starting tomorrow according to Section 34 of the Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act (Atipsom) 2007.
“Meanwhile, the five illegal immigrants are being investigated under the Immigration Act 1959/63,” he said. — DayakDaily
