KUCHING: The Sarawak General Operations Force (GOF) busted an attempt to smuggle in 20 foreigners using a ‘rat trail’ (jalan tikus) near Jalan Mongkos, Serian on Thursday night.
Sarawak GOF Brigade commander SAC Mancha Ata said that the GOF 11th Battalion personnel raided the group around 10.45pm after obtaining information on the incident.
Inspections were carried out and led to the arresting of 20 Indonesians (15 males and five females) for entering Sarawak without any valid legal travel documents.
“The team also arrested four local men suspected to be agents to the syndicate of bringing Indonesians illegally to work in Malaysia.
“During inspections, one of the locals attempted to offer a RM2,000 bribe to the enforcement leader to avoid any legal actions being taken against them.
“The man is arrested under Section 17(B) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 for bribing and is handed over to Sarawak MACC for further actions,” he said in a statement.
Further inspection also found a motorcycle, a Vellfire vehicle, two sets of keys and a mobile phone. All items were worth a total of RM314,100 and were allegedly used by the locals to smuggle in the foreigners.
He pointed out that the locals were detained under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 whereas the foreigners were detained under Section 6 (1) (C) of the Immigration Act 1959/63. All were handed over to Serian district police headquarters (IPD) for further actions.
Meanwhile, in Debak on Friday (Aug 14), a bird nest building in Jalan Mission was raided by GOF Sibu 10th Battalion at 7.30am, on suspicion that the building was used as a storage for illicit cigarettes.
Mancha said the inspection resulted in the finding of 3,320 cartons of cigarettes (659,200 cigarette sticks) inside the building.
“The contraband items with an estimated value of RM495,744 including tax seized.
“The team also arrested a local woman believed to be the building owner during the operation,” he said.
The seizures and arrest were made under Section 135 of the Customs Act 1967 and will be handed over to Betong IPD for further actions.
Mancha pointed out that the total seizure value from both operations were estimated to be RM809,844 along with the arrest of five locals and 20 foreigners.
