Fear factor – Syndicates threaten new Port Klang Immigration officers

By Farrah Naz Karim and Heidi Foo, NST

PUTRAJAYA: Immigration officers in Port Klang are under attack for trying to weed out corruption in their ranks.

Vehicles belonging to 20 officers who were transferred to the port were damaged just days after their move. These officers also received threatening phone calls.

The authorities believe that these attacks were orchestrated by syndicates with links to officers who were transferred out of Port Klang.

Immigration director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman confirmed his men had complained to him about receiving threats and having their car windscreens smashed.

“These attacks are to instil fear in the newly-transferred officers.”

The 20 officers were transferred to Port Klang on Sept 27, weeks after several officers from the port were arrested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission on allegations of corruption.

The arrested officers were believed to have been working with syndicates to smuggle in foreigners.

The authorities believe the syndicates are fighting back as the arrests disrupted their illegal income. Rahman said the attacks on the officers came within three days of their transfer.

“(The syndicates) are retaliating, all right. They are not letting go easily as it is a lucrative business.

“We do not dismiss the possibility that these syndicates receive information from the inside,” he said, adding that it would not be cowed into submission by the bad apples in the department and their outside accomplices.

He said the transfer was one of the measures taken by the department to weed out corruption. Under this move, the department will not station enforcement officers in one place for more than three year s.

“The only difference is, at Port Klang, we transferred 20 officers at one go. Usually the number is between three and five officers.

“The others would be transferred out by Nov 1,” he said without giving any numbers.

He said the authorities should severely deal with men from his department who compromised the country’s security.

Commenting on a New Straits Ti m e s report yesterday that the Home Ministry was considering imposing the Internal Security Act on errant officers, Rahman said he was all for it.

“What choice do we have? Stern action must be taken as this is a matter of national security.

“I will do whatever it takes to ensure that these culprits are dealt with sternly.”

In the past week,MACC nabbed nine Immigration officers in Pulau Ketam, Klang and Port Dickson.