Local tabligh members returning from a cancelled religious gathering in Indonesia gather at the Tawau Ferry Terminal before they are taken to a quarantine centre for 14-day Covid-19 monitoring.

TAWAU: Police have confirmed 12 local tabligh members were escorted by authorities to a quarantine centre for Covid-19 monitoring as they attempted to enter the waters here from Sulawesi, Indonesia on Saturday.

Tawau police chief ACP Peter Umbuas said all the men had to be escorted so that they could be monitored by a multidisciplinary team to ensure their health.

It is understood that the tabligh members, aged between 38 and 71, expected to attend an Asia-level ijtima or religious gathering in South Sulawesi which was scheduled to take place Sunday but was cancelled by the Indonesian government over Covid-19 fears following Malaysia’s largest cluster of the disease discovered in a similar gathering at a Kuala Lumpur mosque.

According to sources, they were said to have returned to Tawau via the district’s waters and arrived at Sg Pancang, Sebatik Island at 3.20pm before being escorted by authorities to the Customs and Immigration Quarantine Centre at the Tawau Ferry Terminal.