Two Children Among 21 Myanmar Nationals Detained In Sugarcane Plantation

KANGAR, June 23 (Bernama) -- Two children were among 21 Myanmar nationals detained by the Anti-Smuggling Unit (ASU) at a sugarcane plantation in Chuping here on Wednesday night.

Perlis ASU Commander DSP Zakaria Abdul Rahman said the siblings aged four and six, were among the 21 Myanmar nationals detained at about 10.45pm when the Chuping area ASU spotted their footprints.

Among the detained was the father of the two children who had apparently wanted to take his two children to see their mother in Kuala Lumpur.


He said the immigrants entered Malaysia by cutting through a fence but their footprints in the muddy track following heavy rain, led the ASU to the group comprising 18 men, a woman and two children, who had no valid travelling documents.

However, the guide who arranged their entry, managed to escape after realizing the presence of the authorities, he said when met at the Chuping ASU office today.

According to Zakaria, raffia strings on the wrist and neck of the illegal immigrants were used to denote their destinations, after crossing the border.

"Two raffia strings of white and green on the wrist means they will be sent to Penang while a single white raffia string on the neck denotes that they will be brought to Kuala Lumpur," he said.

He said all the illegal immigrants aged between four and 45 years, were believed to have stayed in Hatyai, Thailand for two days before they were sent to the border where they cut through the fencing so as to enter the sugarcane plantation.

He said the illegal immigrants were believed to have paid a syndicate RM2,500 for each adult and RM1,000 each for children to enter the country and some made the trip to look for work in Malaysia by selling land in their home country.

"The economic and political upheaval in Myanmar and Malaysia's stable economy and peace were factors that drove them to work illegally here," he said.

All the detainees will be handed over to the Immigration Department to be sent to the Belantik Immigration Depot in Sik for further investigation.

In the first six months of 2011, Perlis ASU has detained 136 illegal immigrants comprising 75 from Myanmar, 41 Bangladesh, 11 Thais, six Indonesia, two Pakistanis and a local guide, he said.

-- BERNAMA

Source:http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=596253

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