KUALA LUMPUR: The Bukit Aman Marine Operations Force recorded a 49% increase in cases between January and June, compared to the same time period last year.

       Its commander Deputy Comm Mohd Yusoff Mamat said that 3,435 cases were recorded by the Marine Police, compared to 2,300 cases in 2020.

       "The police have also confiscated around RM220,443,106 in seizures in that same time frame, which is also a 295% increase from last year. This is a huge increase and is directly related to the increase of inspections.

       "The more we inspect, the more cases we uncover," he said at Bukit Aman Wednesday (July 7).

       He added that Ops Benteng has led to a reduction of cases under the Immigration Act.

       "So far, we have recorded 57 cases this year, compared to the 173 cases previously. This shows the effectiveness of Ops Benteng in preventing illegal immigrants entering Malaysia," he said.

       He added that the waters from Langkawi to Kuala Sepang were among the main areas of activities, including the entry of contraband and illegal immigrants.

       "Our waters are vast, and in Peninsular Malaysia, it already stretches to 2,000KM. We don't have many boats, more so when compared with Singapore, which has a boat per kilometer.

       "For us, we are averaging about 100KM of coverage per boat, and that is if all our boats are in operation. People will take advantage of our vast waters and we have to be smarter than them by utilising good intelligence gathered and performing more checks," he said.