The Suluks from the southern Philippines were removed last year by the Immigration Department and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).

“We are worried these foreigners will use the fish bomb technique and other illegal fishing methods,” said one fisherman in a Borneo Post report. “That will destroy the marine life here.”

Another fisherman urged the authorities to “arrest the locals sheltering these foreigners”.

It is believed the foreign fishermen evade the authorities by setting out for sea at midnight and returning early in the morning.

The foreigners, according to the complaints, were also seen fishing in the Adong River, near the Kampung Batu Satu Lutong-Kuala Baram road, and Kampung Api-Api in Lutong.

The Suluk fishing boats can also be seen at Mile 5, Lutong-Kuala Baram road.

Apparently, many of the foreigners were squatting near the old dumping ground in Lutong-Kuala Baram and along the river banks there.

Some had set up camp near a maritime training school along the Batu Satu Lutong-Kuala Baram road. Two Suluk fishing boats were berthed there.

The state government had recently resettled local squatters in the nearby Kampung Api-Api, Lutong. They were relocated in Tudan some distance away.

The Miri Division Security Committee set up two task forces last year to track down the illegal immigrants. One was headed by the Immigration Department and the other by the MMEA.

Local fishermen were reminded to bring along their identity cards and boat licences when they went out to sea.

It was then found that locals were renting houses and fishing boats to foreigners who had entered the state illegally.

During the operation early last year, foreign fishing boats were found in Kampung Wireless in Miri, Piasau Utara, Kampung Pasir and Kampung Pengkalan in Lutong, at the Pujut 7 bridge and Pujut Adong.