2008/10/10
By Sharifah Mahsinah Abdullah
New Strait Times (Malaysia)
KOTA BARU: A group of Cambodians and Vietnamese and their families made an elaborate plan to balik kampung to celebrate Hari Raya.
They chartered a tour bus to take them from Kuala Lumpur to the Kelantan-Thai land border.
As the bus could take only 41 people, the remaining 10 bought tickets on an express bus from Kuala Lumpur to Rantau Panjang.
The group, which included a 10-month-old baby girl, had bundles of new clothes and food items, including the much-favoured Raya cookies, to take home to the families in Cambodia and Vietnam.
But their plans went awry just 30km from the border. Kelantan Anti-Smuggling Unit (UPP) officers stopped the two buses at Lalang Pepuyu in Tanah Merah around 5.40am yesterday.
All the foreigners were detained and later sent to the Immigration detention camp in Tanah Merah.
A UPP official said the foreigners and their families were illegal immigrants who had been living and working in KL for over a decade.
"This is not their first trip home as they admitted to using the same route for their journey.
"They would board a bus to Rantau Panjang, sneak across the border and make their way across Thailand just to celebrate Hari Raya.
"We are aware of the practice. That is why we stepped up enforcement around this time. This is the first time we caught them in a chartered bus just to bring them to the border."
It is learnt that the illegals pay up to RM300 per person for a seat in a van or a car to travel to the border.
They chartered a tour bus to take them from Kuala Lumpur to the Kelantan-Thai land border.
As the bus could take only 41 people, the remaining 10 bought tickets on an express bus from Kuala Lumpur to Rantau Panjang.
The group, which included a 10-month-old baby girl, had bundles of new clothes and food items, including the much-favoured Raya cookies, to take home to the families in Cambodia and Vietnam.
But their plans went awry just 30km from the border. Kelantan Anti-Smuggling Unit (UPP) officers stopped the two buses at Lalang Pepuyu in Tanah Merah around 5.40am yesterday.
All the foreigners were detained and later sent to the Immigration detention camp in Tanah Merah.
A UPP official said the foreigners and their families were illegal immigrants who had been living and working in KL for over a decade.
"This is not their first trip home as they admitted to using the same route for their journey.
"They would board a bus to Rantau Panjang, sneak across the border and make their way across Thailand just to celebrate Hari Raya.
"We are aware of the practice. That is why we stepped up enforcement around this time. This is the first time we caught them in a chartered bus just to bring them to the border."
It is learnt that the illegals pay up to RM300 per person for a seat in a van or a car to travel to the border.
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