LAHAD DATU: The Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) has arrested 11 Filipinos after intercepting two boats, which tried to enter Mantabuan waters off Semporna on Thursday night.
Esscom commander Datuk Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid said yesterday an enforcement team from the Tun Sharifah Rodziah Marine Base near here intercepted the boats at 8.15pm.
He said those arrested — seven men, two women and two children — did not have identification documents.
The foreigners, aged between 11 and 42, had also violated the dusk-to-dawn curfew in the waters off Sabah, he said, adding that a Yamaha 40hp outboard engine and 11 drums of oil were also seized.
Bari said a 25-year-old man of Suluk descent was arrested last Saturday in Kampung Pangkalan here while trying to smuggle petrol to the Philippines.
On the same day, a boat was intercepted in Denawan waters and 12 Filipinos, aged between 12 and 59, were arrested.
They had no identification documents. Bernama