KOTA KINABALU, May 17 – The Sabah Immigration Department has arrested five foreigners for using fake passports to travel in and out of the country from the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) over the past two months.
Its director, Noor Alam Khan Abdul Wahid Khan said the latest arrest was made last Wednesday involving two Turkish men, who were caught using fake passports in their attempt to catch a flight to Kuala Lumpur.
On April 6, he said a Pakistani man was arrested for using a fake Malaysian passport bearing the name of Muhammad Shahrul Bin Fauzi in an attempt to leave for Perth, Australia from KKIA.
He said initial check on the passport number revealed that it belonged to Halleyza Binti Ibrahim and was reported missing in Kajang, Selangor on June 6, last year.
The two other foreigners arrested for the same offence were Turkish men on transit to Manila, Philippine on April 19, he said.
Noor Alam said in a bid to prevent such a crime, the department had increased its monitoring activities on the trend of foreigner arrivals at the airport, especially from Middle East and South Asian countries.
Further investigations would also be done with cooperation from the police to detect the mastermind and the syndicate, believed to be active in travel document fraud and smuggling of migrants, he added.
– BERNAMA
