TAWAU: The Sabah Immigration Department has sent back 153 Indonesians to their home country.
Its director Datuk SH Sitti Saleha Habib Yussof said the deportation by sea, in collaboration with the Indonesian consulate in Tawau, marked the 10th series of repatriations for the year.
She added that the transfer involved Indonesian detainees from the Tawau Immigration Depot, who were directly transported to Nunukan Port, Terminal Tunon Taka, Indonesia.
The group consisted of 123 men, 25 women and five children, aged between six and 66.
"Children involved in this transfer were accompanied by their respective parents or guardians. All detainees held at the Immigration Depot have committed various offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63 and the Immigration Regulations 1963.
"This transfer operation is part of the continuous operations conducted by the Sabah Immigration department for foreign detainees housed in all Immigration Depots throughout Sabah," she said in a statement.
Sitti said the department remains committed to conducting enforcement operations and the transfer of undocumented immigrants.
However, she added that the frequency of the Indonesian citizens transfer programme carried out by the department is subject to strategic cooperation with the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Kota Kinabalu and the Consulate of the Republic of Indonesia in Tawau.