Enhanced security features to prevent passport forgery

SIBU: The Immigration Department’s offices throughout Sarawak have issued a new version of passports with enhanced security features to prevent forgery and abuse by those irresponsible.

According to Deputy Home Minister Dato Masir Kujat, even the department’s offices in Urban Transformation Centres (UTCs) in the state are issuing such passports.

“Since last year, Sarawak Immigration Department has been issuing a new version of passports in stages. These passports were only available at several offices in the state previously.

“Now, the good news is that all the department’s offices statewide including those in UTCs are issuing the new version of the travel document,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.

Masir who is Sri Aman MP was asked if the enhanced version of passports were now available at Immigration Department’s offices throughout Sarawak.

For the record, the new security features include a polycarbonate biodata page with a chip and a passport authenticity verification feature that can only be detected under ultraviolet (UV) light.

He believed the latest version of passports could help reduce thefts of travel documents.

Masir added: “If someone steals this passport, he cannot tamper nor forge it as it is equipped with state-of-art security features.”

Turning to passport holders, he reminded them to take greater care of their travel documents.

“Those who have lost their passports due to incidents like fires, floods or thefts must immediately report to the police,” he advised.