FIVE AFGHAN CHILDREN AMONG 36 FOREIGNERS DETAINED BY MARINE POLICE

PORT KLANG (Malaysia), April 30 (Bernama) -- Five Afghan children were among 36 foreigners detained by Marine Police in Kuala Langat near here at about 3.40am on Saturday, while trying to leave the country illegally.

Selangor Marine Police Deputy Supt Marzuki Ismail said the five children
were among 28 foreigners from Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Indonesia who were
arrested while attempting to leave the country illegally by boat.

Among them were 16 from Afghanistan (nine men and two women), 14 Pakistani
men, three men from Iraq, two Indonesian men and an Indonesian woman, all aged
between 20 to 40 while the children were between two and four.

He added that it was the first time that Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq
nationals were arrested together in such an operation.

"They are believed to have walked through a muddy path along a mangrove
forest to get on to the boat as their clothes were dirty and filled with mud,"
he told reporters at the Pulau Indah Marine base here Wednesday.

Port Klang is a town in Malaysia and is located in the district of Klang in
the state of Selangor. It is located by the largest and busiest port in the
country of the same name. The port in the area serves the Klang Valley,
including Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

Marzuki added that except for the three Indonesians, the rest from Iraq,
Afghanistan and Pakistan had valid travel documents but were detained for trying
to leave the country illegally.

-- BERNAMA