Foreigners planning to enter Sabah and cause trouble during polling - Police chief

Police have received intelligence that certain elements from a neighbouring country are planning to enter Sabah in big numbers to create trouble during polling on Saturday, said Sabah police commissioner Datuk Hazani Ghazali.

"In conjunction with the Sabah state election, we have received information that immigrants from a neighbouring country will come to Sabah in big numbers to create disturbance.

"We have to thwart this so that the polls can proceed smoothly and public order and security can be maintained,” he told a press conference at the Sabah police headquarters here today.

When asked by reporters, he declined to disclose the source of the information, the number of potential troublemakers and the kind of disturbance planned by them.

"(They are) from a neighbouring country; no need to be specific,” he said.

Hazani said police would cooperate with the Immigration Department, armed forces and other relevant agencies to tighten controls along the country’s borders, including boosting existing assets.

He said the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom) had activated its assets to the maximum level and had been conducting patrols along the land and sea borders on the Sabah east coast.

“A total of 96 control posts at the land and sea borders have been placed on a state of alert and are actively conducting patrols to detect 'lorong tikus' (illegal trails) along the borders.

"We are also worried that they might bring in COVID-19 as the virus has spread rapidly, especially in the Sabah east coast of Lahad Datu, Tawau, Kunak and Semporna," Hazani added.

Meanwhile, he said despite the surge in COVID-19 cases in Sabah, early voting would proceed as planned on Tuesday in accordance with the standard operating procedure to curb the spread of the virus.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 52 positive COVID-19 cases were reported in the country today, 36 of them in Sabah.

As of yesterday, there was one positive case in Sandakan, three positive cases were reported in the Bakau Cluster in Semporna, 399 cases in Tawau and 551 cases in the Benteng Lahad Datu Cluster.

-- BERNAMA