ZAMBOANGA CITY, 25 September 2004 — Malaysian police have arrested dozens of illegal Filipino workers in the oil-rich state of Sabah south of the Philippines, in a renewed crackdown against undocumented foreigners, the island’s Daily Express reported yesterday.
It said 66 Filipinos, including fifteen children, had been arrested Thursday at a construction site near Asia City in Kota Kinabalu, after they failed to show legal documents to the police and immigration officers.
The operation, codenamed “Ops Nyah,” targetted foreigners illegally staying or working in Sabah, just three hours by speedboat from the Philippine island of Sibutu. Those arrested were sent at a detention center in Menggatal and would be charged in court for illegal entry. Two men were also found carrying fake working permits.
The arrest came barely a week after Filipino security officials said Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani and his aide Abu Solaiman had fled to Sabah from the southern Philippines to escape a military operation. It was not immediately known if the crackdown on the Filipinos was connected to the escape of the two terror leaders.
The Philippine military mounted a massive hunt for the elusive leader, blamed for the series of bombings and kidnappings in the country. And both Janjalani and Solaiman were among five known leaders of the Abu Sayyaf wanted by the United States for killing two kidnapped American hostages - Kansas missionary Martin Burnham and Californian Guiilermo Sobero.
