Esscom nabs 40 involved in 25 smuggling cases

LAHAD DATU: The Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) has detained 40 individuals involved in 25 cases related to the smuggling of drugs and cigarettes in the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone) over the past two months. 

Esscom Commander Datuk Ahmad Fuad (pic) said the success was made possible by the operation to curb illegal immigrants over land, conducted since Oct 7, as the second line of enforcement after the sea operation.

“From the arrests, a total of RM3.17 million worth of drugs and RM1.05 million worth of cigarettes and smuggled controlled items were seized.

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“Esscom’s achievement was made possible with the co-operation of the police and Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF),” he told reporters after a working visit to observe the eastern zone of the land-based operation at Tanjung Labian, here, Monday.

Ahmad Fuad said during the same period, 10 skippers and 58 illegal immigrants were also nabbed over various offences with total seizures worth RM1.19 million.

“Besides that 33 Indonesian migrants were also ordered to turn back and escorted out of the Malaysian border,” he said.

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He said the smart deployment concept among security forces had enabled the sharing of expertise, logistics and radar facilities in an effective manner to monitor 62 hotspot areas in Esszone under the land operation.

Meanwhile, he said the land operation initiative had managed to reduce the number of illegal entries and smuggling cases from neighbouring countries.

He said this was proven by fewer number of suspicious boats detected by MAF’s radars in Esszone waters.