KL nabs 100 illegal RI immigrants

KUALA LUMPUR (DPA): Malaysian naval police have detained 100 Indonesians, including two children, who illegally entered the country aboard a fishing trawler in the Straits of Malacca, a news report said on Thursday.

Marine police spotted the trawler on Tuesday night near a mangrove swamp off Port Klang, Malaysia, and gave chase before the boat surrendered.

The Sun daily said it was the marine police's biggest arrest of illegal Indonesian immigrants this year. The Indonesians, who had no travel documents, will be held at detention camps before they are deported home.

Police also arrested the Indonesian boatman for bringing in the Indonesians, who were mostly from Aceh and Madura.

They had gathered in Dumai on Sumatra, which is separated from peninsula Malaysia by the narrow Straits of Malacca.

The Indonesians said they paid the boatman between 50 ringgit and 100 ringgit (US$13 and $26) for the trip.

Indonesians form the largest number of illegal immigrants in Malaysia and mostly work as construction workers, plantation hands, kitchen staff and housemaids.