BATU PAHAT: Six people have been detained by the Customs Department for trying to leave the country via uncharted routes at a beach in Rengit near here.

       Johor Customs Department director Sazali Mohamad said the suspects were arrested at 6.45pm on Sunday (April 17) by the department's Sungai Pulai Enforcement Marine Unit.

       He said that the team was patrolling the area when it noticed a taxi being driven in a suspicious manner near Jalan Kampung Sungai Mengkudu.

       “When they approached, one of the passengers suddenly got out of the taxi and tried to escape in the nearby oil palm plantation," said Sazali.

       “Our team apprehended the suspect as well as the other people in the vehicle,” he added in a statement on Thursday (April 21).

       Sazali said that the taxi was driven by a local man while the five passengers were believed to be illegal immigrants who enter the country without documentation.

       “Inspection of the vehicle also found 10g of drugs,” he said, adding that all of the suspects tested positive for drugs.

       The suspects are aged between 34 and 55.

       The case is being investigated under Section 26J of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (Atipsom) Act 2007, Section 6 of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, and Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959.