Brunei new entry point to Malaysia

JOHOR BARU - After Thailand and Singapore, human trafficking syndicates are now using the least expected country in the region as a backdoor into Malaysia -- Brunei.

Intelligence-sharing reports between the two neighbouring countries have revealed that transnational crime syndicates are using the oil-rich sultanate as a springboard to enter Malaysia via Sarawak.

Reports also revealed that human traffickers, upon arrival in Brunei by air, were capitalising on all four land checkpoints to enter Sarawak before going to other parts of the country. The checkpoints are Kuala Belait, Kuala Lurah, Labu and Ujung Jalan.

Immigration Department director-general Datuk Alias Ahmad said it was crucial for Malaysia and Brunei to step up cooperation to serve as a check against transnational crime syndicates, which keep changing its transit points to avoid detection.

"We have detected the intention of human traffickers in using Brunei as a transit point to gain entry into our country. Our counterparts in Brunei have also revealed to us that an internationally-wanted human trafficker from Iran was detected and later arrested in Brunei recently.

"Human traffickers are always looking for loopholes in every country to facilitate their job. Both countries have vowed to step up bilateral cooperation to weed out transnational criminal activities," he said in an exclusive with the New Straits Times here.

There are about 1.5 million visitors from Malaysia to Brunei and 780,000 from Brunei to Malaysia last year through the four checkpoints.

The New Straits Times, in an exclusive report last month, revealed that foreigners were offered a "package", for as low as RM2,500, by human-trafficking syndicates, which included not only smuggling the individual into the country but also provided an altered MyKad.

Once in the country, the foreigner would assume the identity of the original MyKad owner, complete with the owner's identification number, name and address, but with a different photograph.

Details of the package came to light following a raid on illegal foreign workers in Kelana Jaya, Selangor, last month.

It also came in the wake of under-the-counter dealings implicating Immigration personnel for allowing entry of illegals at Kuala Lumpur International Airport and the Low Cost Carrier Terminal, which was exposed by Berita Harian.

These cases came under close scrutiny after the country was rocked by the brutal robbery-cum-murder of Subang Jaya AmBank officer Norazita Abu Talib, 37, who was shot by an Indonesian security guard using a fake Malaysian identification card.

This was followed by the arrest of a National Registration Department officer and three Filipino women, who were among 23 people detained in Miri, Sarawak, for their involvement in a human trafficking syndicate and falsification of identity cards.

Authorities had launched Op ID, leading to the arrest of 20 illegals working as security guards who were using fake or stolen MyKad.

It has also formed a "flying squad", comprising officers from the Immigration Department, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and police, to weed out any corrupt practice at the country's checkpoints.