SARAWAK’S border security committee will make use of the drones to assist police, armed forces and other relevant agencies to better patrol the porous Sarawak-Kalimantan border.

Deputy Chief Minister James Masing, in a statement after chairing a meeting to look for ways to better seal the border, said funds to purchase the high-capacity drones and other equipment such as mobile like scramblers, all-terrain vehicles and four-wheeled drive vehicles, would be sought from the state disaster management committee.

The border committee is a unit of the disaster management committee.

Masing said the procurement of the machinery and equipment for enforcers is to ensure stringent and aggressive monitoring at the border as Indonesians crossing the border illegally to look for jobs in the state had been blamed for the spread of Covid-19. 

Masing, in the first committee meeting for the year, said in order to reduce the import of the virus from the other side of the border, it was crucial for Sarawak to beef up the security of its border.

The beefing up of security was also to curb people smuggling at the border, he added. 

“This means all the relevant enforcement agencies including police, General Operations Force, armed forces, the Malaysian coastguard, Customs and Immigration Departments need to carry out more effective and strategised operations,” Masing said. 

One weakness identified in patrolling the border was in communication and the difficulties the hilly border terrain posed to patrols and remote border posts strung along the border. 

Masing proposed having the ConnectMe broadband for these posts as other telecommunication means have been found to be not feasible to such remote border posts like Tapak Megah and Pandora, reportedly the main routes for the smuggling of goods and drugs. 

“A good communication network has to be in place. It is to ensure the safety of our enforcement teams (to have) smooth communication between the border and headquarters.” 

He said until and unless border security was strengthened, it would be almost impossible to flatten the virus curve.

The areas in Lundu and close to the Biawak border crossing are the most popular crossings taken by the illegals. 

From there they are then transported by local tekong to different parts of the state in search of work. 

He said one of his committee’s focus was therefore “to nail down the mastermind and the tekong in order to stop this infiltration”.

Even though the punishment for such crime can be up to 20 years in prison, it had failed to deter the people smuggling.

In the first 12 days of this year, GOF had arrested 22 illegal immigrants, including four human smugglers at Biawak. 

Those arrested are nine men, eight women and one child. 

At the same time, two illegal immigrants arrested at a known rat trail at Kg Sg Paoh in Serian have been asked to walk back across the border, a preferred method employed by the authorities. 

Meanwhile, the armed forces made five turn-backs during the period.

The human smugglers, all locals, were however placed under arrest and the vehicles used in their operations have been impounded. – January 13, 2021.