A warning has been issued to national airline Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) for failing to observe procedures requiring passengers on its international flight to go through immigration checks on arrival in the country.
Bernama reports that Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed said the incident happened a few days ago when a MAS flight, MH741 from Yangon, Myanmar to Kuala Lumpur, with 135 passengers on board, was detoured to the Langkawi International Airport due to bad weather.
He said he was informed by the Immigration authorities today that only 32 of the passengers, including Malaysians, went for the Immigration check after arriving at the Langkawi International Airport.
“We understand the aircraft had to detour to Langkawi, but when in Langkawi, procedures required passengers on international flight to be processed, like stamping of their passport, but this was not observed.
“Subsequently, the aircraft flew to the KL International Airport on a domestic flight, and from there, the passengers entered the country as domestic passengers,” he told reporters after opening the Asean and Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking (COMMIT) Workshop: Identifying Human Trafficking Victims and Relevant Types of Exploitation in Kuala Lumpur today.
Nur Jazlan, however, could not furnish details on the incident, but said it was the responsibility of the airline concerned to ensure passengers on its international flight went through Immigration procedures on arrival.
He said he had a meeting with Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) yesterday on problems of passengers entering the country illegally through Malaysian airports.
He said it was the responsibility of all quarters to prevent illegal entry of foreigners into the country.
“Airline companies should also play their role by ensuring passengers on their international flight go through the Immigration check, even if there are technical problems and others,” he added.
'A miscommunication'
Meanwhile, in a statement tonight, Malaysia Airlines said that severe weather had seen the disruption of several of its flights.
“This included flight MH741 on Dec 12 from Yangon to Kuala Lumpur which was diverted to Langkawi. In our efforts to get passengers to the intended destination as quickly and safely as possible, diverted passengers of MH741 were reallocated onto a domestic flight to Kuala Lumpur.” said the statement.
It added that procedures were in place to ensure that the domestic flight arrived through the international gate but unfortunately a miscommunication led to international passengers arriving at the domestic gate.
“These passengers were assisted by Malaysia Airports' security personnel and together with Malaysia Airlines' ground staff, both parties ensured all the international passengers' passports were processed at the immigration checkpoint.
“Safety and security are of utmost importance to Malaysia Airlines and it continues to endeavour to meet all Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) requirements at all times.” said the statement.
