Kota Kinabalu: A total of 2,469 people were screened at Kg Sembulan Lama during the Integrated Ops on Illegal Immigrants early Tuesday which lasted from 1am to 7am. City Police Chief ACP M. Chandra said 35 officers and 165 personnel took part in the large-scale operation from various departments and agencies including police, police volunteers, National Security Council (NSC), National Registration Department (NRD), City Hall, Immigration Department, Rela and Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB). Also present were Mayor Datuk Yeo Boon Hai and City Police Deputy Chief Supt Azhar Hamin.
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Chandra said 854 men, 812 women and 803 children were inspected for documents and the team canvassed a total of 625 houses in the area."A total of 48 houses were marked for demolition. Upon screening, a total of 135 people were brought in for documentation comprising 76 men, 32 women and 27 children," he said.
Further screening resulted in 30 arrests namely 16 men, eight women, three girls and three boys."Fourteen men were also tested for drugs of whom seven were apprehended for narcotic offences.
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"All 30 individuals arrested were brought to the Temporary Detention Centre in Manggatal after documentation and urine tests were done at Kota Kinabalu police station," he said.The second phase of the operation involved the demolition of 42 houses which had been earmarked earlier by City Hall with the assistance from police.
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According to Yeo, the operation came about following a discussion with Tanjung Aru Assemblyman and Minister in charge of City Hall Datuk Edward Yong together with the NSC. "About one and half months ago, we held a gotong-royong in the area together with Yong. "During that event, we received many appeals from the locals complaining of too many unknown people living in the village. "Many of them, we were told, built their own houses without permission from the local authority. "Therefore, we decided that any illegal structure will have to be demolished and thanks to the kind cooperation from the Commissioner of Police Datuk Rashid Harun and City Police Chief ACP M. Chandra, we are able to conduct this integrated operation," he said. Yeo said about a month ago, City Hall had already notified the residents of the houses earmarked for demolition to leave the premises.In fact, they agreed to move but many did not demolish the illegally built structures."So today, we demolished them all. In total we demolished 42 houses and a further 13 have been given demolition notices," he said.No untoward incident happened during the 12-hour operation but police kept guard with a team of anti-riot police team at the scene.The demolition exercise included a big two-storey building which used to house a grocery store.Several items belonging to the residents of the demolished houses were seen piled up here and there while locals gathered around to watch.
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One of the locals, known only as Tuan Haji, said it was high time that the houses were destroyed because he suspected many of the residents are drug addicts and probably criminals because he did not know any of them."There are many other houses around here whose residents we do not recognise. I hope the government will screen them also," he said.