ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 21, 2011) – Filipino authorities intercepted a boat carrying over 250 passengers while trying to illegally smuggled them in Malaysia’s oil-rich state of Sabah, officials said.
Officials said the overloaded boat, ML Wendylen, was carrying 278 passengers when it was intercepted over the weekend by the Philippine Coast Guard off Taganak Island near Sabah .
“It had a total of 278 passengers,” Ensign Lydia Vallar, of the Philippine Coast Guard in Zamboanga City
The boat, which has a capacity of about 50 passengers, was towed to Zamboanga City
The Coast Guard also turned over the boat’s skipper and crew to the police for investigation.
Unscrupulous boat operators continue to smuggle undocumented Filipinos to Sabah despite a strict government campaign to prevent illegal border crossing in the southern province of Tawi-Tawi. Many of them work illegally in palm plantations and construction firms, and others live with their relatives in Sabah, just several hours by speedboat from Tawi-Tawi. (Mindanao Examiner)
20