ALOR STAR: Police thwarted an attempt by two Cambodian men to smuggle 20 illegal immigrants from Myanmar into the country early yesterday.
The arrests were made when a team from the Bukit Kayu Hitam police station and the Criminal Investigation Division of the district police headquarters was patrolling a back road near the Universiti Utara Malaysia campus in Sintok at about 5.10am.
Kubang Pasu police chief Superintendent Mohd Redzuan Salleh said the team spotted individuals inside two Toyota Innova vehicles behaving suspiciously while patrolling the area.
"The team tailed the two MPVs and intercepted the vehicles at the roadside in Hosba, Changlun.
"Upon inspecting the white Toyota Innova, the team discovered that a Cambodian man was driving four men and five women.
"Checks on the other gold-coloured Toyota Innova MPV showed that it was driven by another Cambodian man who was ferrying eight men and three women," he said in a statement.
Redzuan said all the passengers, believed to be Myanmar nationals, failed to produce valid travel documents.
He said both drivers, aged between 20 and 40, were in possession of Cambodian passports.
"Initial investigations revealed that the two suspected human traffickers were paid RM1,000 each by another individual, a Myanmar national, to transport the illegal immigrants from the Bukit Kayu Hitam border to Kuala Nerang, in Padang Terap district," he said.
Redzuan added that the case is being investigated under Section 26A of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007, and Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63.