Kota Kinabalu: Effective immediately, all Filipino barter traders will only be allowed to enter Sabah for seven days and no extension will be granted.
Disclosing this, Immigration director-general Dato' Alias Ahmad also said the Immigration Department would no longer issue the seaman identification card (SIC) effective April 15 - which means that these barter traders would be required to produce passports in order to enter Sabah.
"If they don't have passports, they can produce the seaman's book to gain entry," he said.
In the past, barter traders who did not possess passports were issued with the SICs which allowed them to remain in Sabah for up to two weeks.
Last year, 18,388 barter traders who came to Sabah in 1,768 vessels were issued with the SICs.
Alias said the new immigration rules were part of efforts to have tighter control on the arrivals of barter traders.
"We are serious about this matter...we are the ones manning all entry points in the country," he told a press conference here yesterday.
And, he also warned that stern action would be taken against those who failed to comply with the new immigration rules.
Under Section 55 (A) of the Immigration Act, the kumpit captain is liable to imprisonment of up to five years or a fine not exceeding RM20,000 as well as whipping in the event of conviction.
For the vessel's crew members who committed the offence, they are liable to imprisonment of not more than five years or a fine not exceeding RM10,000 and whipping.
These barter traders - the kumpit (barter trading boat) captain and crew members come in through the designated ports in Sandakan, Tawau and Kudat as well as one in Labuan FT.
The vessels are required to drop anchor one kilometre away from the ports.
Alias also disclosed that a person charged under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 was liable to imprisonment of up to 20 years or a RM500,000 fine.
Meanwhile, he said the villagers who were evacuated from the red zone areas in Lahad Datu would be screened by security forces, and those who committed offences under the Immigration Act would be charged.
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