Stern action will be taken against any Malaysian, including enforcement personnel, who betrayed the country by turning into informants to facilitate the entry of illegal immigrants.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Mohamed Said said since "Ops Benteng" was implemented last May 1, a total of 25 enforcement personnel were arrested for abetting the illegal immigrants.

"They comprised 18 policemen and officers, five members of the Malaysian Armed Forces and two immigration officers.

"They have violated the laws of the country in acting as informants or conspired in bringing illegal immigrants into our country," he said during the oral question and answer session at the Dewan Rakyat today.

He said this in reply to a question by Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid (BN-Padang Terap) who wanted to know the effectiveness of Ops Benteng in addressing smuggling of illegal immigrants into the country.

Ismail said that so far, a total of 3,597 individuals, comprising 2,625 illegal immigrants, 602 tekong and 370 informants who abetted in the smuggling of illegal immigrants into the country had been arrested in Ops Benteng.

To a supplementary question from Mahdzir on action taken by the government to address the high cost involved in managing the illegal immigrants at detention depots, Ismail said the government was working with the country of origin of the immigrants involved to deport them.

"Indeed, the cost is high and a financial burden to the country as the cost incurred for each illegal immigrant for food, drink, place and process of sending back to their country of origin is RM90 per person per day," he added.

He said to date, a total of 22,927 illegal immigrants had been deported and they included Indonesian (5,613 people), Myanmarese (3,990) and Bangladeshe (2,664).

-- BERNAMA