TUMPAT: A land guide (tekong darat) was arrested when he was caught transporting 17 Cambodian illegal immigrants in a Perodua Rusa vehicle near an illegal jetty in Pengkalan Kubor here yesterday.
General Operations Force(GOF) Seventh Battalion commanding officer Supt Azhari Nusi said a team conducting monitoring and surveillance had detected the clandestine activity of the 31-year-old local man when they found a van parked suspiciously near a riverbank at the illegal jetty at 7.35 pm.
When the team approached to inspect the van, the suspect suddenly sped off but he lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a drain.
“The suspect still tried to escape but the GOF personnel were quick to apprehend him after a short struggle.
“Upon inspection, we found 17 Cambodian men in the vehicle who failed to produce any valid travel documents and they were believed to have entered Malaysian via Thailand through a rat route,” he said in a statement today.
He said investigations also revealed that the van driver was paid RM250 per trip for his transportation service and a black box, containing 95 red-coloured pills, believed to be ‘pil kuda’ was found under the accelerator pedal.
The pills were believed to have been smuggled from a neighbouring country to be sold in the Pengkalan Kubor area.
“The local man and 17 Cambodian illegal immigrants have been sent to the Tumpat district police headquarters (IPD) and total seizure is estimated at RM30,177.76,” he added.-Bernama
