KOTA SAMARAHAN: Sarawak police will be enhancing and strengthening Sarawak-Kalimantan border control to prevent the entry of illegal immigrants into the state through jalan tikus (rat trails).
State Police Commissioner Datuk Aidi Ismail said this is following the arrests of 13 Indonesians over the weekend.
He noted that during the recovery movement control order (RMCO), roadblocks would still be carried out at the country’s border.
“For border control, we have placed roadblocks in seven locations, including Lundu, Padawan, Serian, Bau and others.
“Our focus is to detect groups of immigrants where the modus operandi would be locals smuggling them (immigrants) by car into Sarawak through rat trails,” he said at a press conference after witnessing the handing over of duties for the Kota Samarahan OCPD at the Kota Samarahan police district headquarters (IPD).
Aidi added that the army and General Operations Force (GOF) had placed several control posts near known rat trails.
Asked on the swab test results for the 13 Indonesians, he said police are still waiting, and that the Indonesians were being placed in a special lock-up.
“If test results come back negative, they will be handed over to the Immigration Department for deportation process,” he said.
On the RMCO compliance, Aidi said that the compliance rate is approximately 80 percent among business premises and the public.
“We have observation teams on the ground monitoring coffee shops, restaurants, markets, malls, banks and others, to ensure that the public and the premises adhere to the standard operating procedure (SOP) set by the government, which includes social distancing, wearing of face masks, recording of body temperature and personal information, as well as preparing hand sanitisers,” he added.
