15 April 2013| last updated at 11:43PM
16 'sleeping' illegals nabbed in express bus
GRIK: As much as they tried to escape detection, 16 illegal immigrants on board an express bus were arrested by the Anti-Smuggling Unit (UPP) here.
Perak UPP commander Assistant Superintendent Kasturi Othman said when his men boarded the bus at the East West Highway in Pengkalan Hulu at 1am yesterday, some of the foreigners pretended to be asleep.
"Some even gave the excuse they wanted to alight from the bus to go to the storage area to get something," he said here yesterday.
All their attempts and reasoning, however, failed to hoodwink the UPP personnel and ended being arrested. The bus was said to be on its way to Kota Baru when 13 UPP officers flagged it down.
Kasturi said the foreigners, aged between 20 and 50, questioned the unit's authority in checking them.
Of the 16 arrested, 11 were Myanmar nationals, two Cambodians and one each from Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh.
"Our investigation showed some of them had overstayed for five years and have been working in the east coast as construction or contract workers," he said.
They were being detained under the Immigration Act 1959/63 and had been handed over to the Pengkalan Hulu Immigration Office for investigation. Kasturi said his men checked 20 other buses from Penang, Alor Star and Ipoh.
