ISKANDAR PUTERI: Police have arrested several illegal immigrants for trying to leave the country via an uncharted route at Tanjung Adang here.

       Iskandar Puteri OCPD Asst Comm Dzulkhairi Mukhtar said that the incident occurred at about 8.30pm on Friday (Nov 19) when police noticed a man acting suspiciously at an oil palm plantation.

       "We have managed to arrest three local men, where two of them acted as transporters and the third as a ‘tekong darat’.

       "Also detained were four illegal immigrants, consisting of one male and two females, with a seven-month-old baby boy," he said in a statement here on Saturday (Nov 20).

       He added that initial investigations revealed that the local suspects had tried to bring the illegal immigrants outside the country via an uncharted route. They charged the illegal immigrants RM2,000 per person.

       A background check also revealed one of the local suspects had a prior criminal record.

       The police had also confiscated a vehicle, a key, five mobile phones and cash worth RM5,000.

       The local suspects were arrested under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma), while the immigrants were detained under Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/1963.

       The case was being investigated under Section 26A of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act (Atipsom) 2007.