Malaysia Investigates Airport Immigration Security System

19th May 2016

Malaysian Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed said yesterday that Malaysia will investigate why its airport immigration security system keeps failing on an almost daily level. According to the deputy minister, this represents a big immigration and security risk for the country.

Mr Jazlan said that the computer system is known to “crash” several times per day, even during times when there’s no reason to overload due to the number of passengers it has to check. This system is linked to the Interpol’s database and should verify if someone’s passports has been stolen or is reported lost.

Deputy Minister said he suspects someone is hacking the system. He said:

We suspect that a syndicate is hacking the system at opportune moments to allow people to enter the country illegally. This ring appears to have a wide reach into all parties involved. There is a high possibility of complicity by enforcement, airport and airline staff from both the countries of origin and Malaysia.

Several Cases of Security Failure in April and May

On Tuesday, the system crashed at about 5:00 AM and was down for about an hour, just as a plane from Bangladesh was arriving. Bangladesh is a known source of illegal immigrants into Malaysia.

Last Friday, the police have arrested 19 people (including two immigration officers) on suspicion they were trafficking Sri Lankans to Switzerland, using fake Malaysian passports.

This month, two Russian travelers were deported for alleged ties to the ISIS terrorist group. The two have been deported from Turkey in February for the same reason.

In April, the Malaysian police detained a Sri Lankan passenger who was wanted back home for making death threats against Sri Lankan leaders. He was later deported back to Sri Lanka.

Immigration System Data “Inaccurate and Suspicious”

After examining the Malaysia Immigration System (myIMMs) data for 2015, the Auditor General reported that a lot of it was “inaccurate” and that “data integrity was suspicious”.

The myIMMs was contracted to a local company without an open tender and was given without the approval from the Finance Ministry.

In addition, the National Audit Department also found another problem with the myIMMs deal. According to them, RM10 million was paid for biometric equipment that was never installed or used.

A report from the NAD said:

Agency link-up was not fully installed; however, full payment has never been made.