MACC nabs rogue immigration officers

Six working at KLIA held for allegedly taking bribes

KUALA LUMPUR: They are supposed to oversee the country’s entry points at the airports, preventing blacklisted locals and foreigners from entering or exiting.

But six Immigration Department officers at KL International Airport were found to be doing the opposite. They allowed such people to pass through in exchange for a tidy sum of money.

Those who were accorded this “special entry treatment” include hardcore and wanted criminals, foreigners who abused social visit passes, those with fake travel documents and even National Higher Education Fund Corporation loan defaulters.

This has been going on for some time, leading the anti-graft body to estimate that some 200 people, many with dubious records and background, being “smuggled” into the country every month.

So far, at least 15 human smuggling syndicates have been identified, working closely with agents who acted as middlemen to rope in some rogue Immigration officers.

Yesterday, a sting operation dubbed Ops Silent was carried out at KLIA, which saw the arrests of six officers, one agent and a foreigner over alleged corruption and abuse of power.

Aged between 27 and 49, they were held overnight and are expected to be remanded in Dang Wangi police headquarters today.

Malaysian Anti- Corruption Commission intelligence department director Datuk Seri Ahmad Khusairi Yahya confirmed the arrests but declined to elaborate as investigations were ongoing.

Sources said these rogue Immigration officers, who oversee the counters at the airport, would allow those blacklisted to pass through without hindrance.

In return, they will be paid hefty amount of cash by these syndicates and split them with the middlemen.

Acting on a tip-off, anti-graft officers have traced these rogue officers through their lavish lifestyle.

“Some of them raked in about RM300,000 a month in ill-gotten gains from these syndicates. Some were suspected to have pocketed RM275,000 in just two days to finance their extravagant spending.

“These agents, who are linked to the syndicates, have in their possession the monthly roster of these rogue officers.

“Those blacklisted will be told on the right time to travel so as to bypass stringent security checks,” said a source, describing the ruse as an “intricate network”.

It is learnt the agents would com- pile the necessary details such as the name of those blacklisted, passport number, flight number, date and time of arrival.

Upon arrival, they would proceed to designated counters manned by “certain” Immigration officers.

Sources said payments would then be banked into the accounts of proxies after each successful entry.

“The amount paid is depending on the nationality of the blacklisted person, which ranges between RM600 and RM6,000. Agents involved in these dealings would receive up to RM2,000,” the sources said.

It is also learnt that the services of these syndicates were also used by some foreigners, who abused their tourist visa and social visit passes, to enter the country to work.