WELLINGTON - New Zealand customs officials today defended their right to strip search travellers, after three Malaysian cooks complained they had been humiliated at Auckland aiport.

While refusing to comment on the case of the Malaysians, Customs Service spokeswoman Janice Rodenburg said customs officers were entitled to carry out strip searches on travellers.

"Sometimes strip searches are carried out when customs officers believe there is good reason," she told AFP .

She said customs officers could refer a passenger to an immigration officer after a search if it was deemed necessary.

Holiday turned nightmare

The three Malaysians alleged they were then locked up for a night and deported the next day after landing at Auckland airport on July 19 as they began what they hoped would be a 10-day visit to New Zealand.

Liew Eng Teck told Malaysia's official Bernama news agency that he and his friends Tan Teck Hing and How Ah Wan had written to Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar about the incident and wanted an apology from New Zealand.

The Bernama report said the cooks were "disappointed with the action of the immigration authorities, Customs and police there who had asked them to strip naked."

New Zealand Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel confirmed the men were strip searched at the airport, but stressed the searches were carried out by customs officials and not immigration officers.

"Media reports suggesting that happened to three Malaysian cooks when they arrived in Auckland were wrong," Dalziel said. - AFP