KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 117 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and drones will be procured to boost surveillance of the nation's borders under Ops Benteng, says Datuk Seri Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz.

       "As part of the ongoing Ops Benteng, the government will be procuring 84 mini UAV and 38 drones at a cost RM2.27mil.

       "This excludes four night vision binoculars for the navy, 18 outdoor digital cameras for the airforce and 30 walkie-talkies for the army, cumulatively worth RM302,000," the Deputy Defence Minister said when replying a question raised by Ahmad Tarmizi Sulaiman in Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday (Nov 10).

       Ikmal said this did not include the armed forces procurement of 19 vertical take off and landing fixed wing drones and multi-rotary hybrid drones costing RM17.7mil last year.

       He said the armed forces had since taken delivery of three units of the VTOL fixed wings drones and two of the hybrid drones.

       Ikmal also informed the House on successes of Ops Benteng over the past 18-months following it's implementation in May last year.

       "As of Oct 31, a total of 16,229 illegal immigrants were detained under Ops Benteng while 3,666 were prevented from entering our borders after being chased away," he said.

       He added that a total of RM684.7mil worth of contraband, vehicles and other goods were seized during the same period.

       He said that Ops Benteng was implemented under National Task Force (NTF) which involved joint operations by several enforcement agencies such as the police, armed forces, immigration department, health ministry and maritime enforcement agency.

       He noted that the joint operations were aimed at preventing the entry of illegal immigrants into the country including the smuggling of goods.