Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 06:42:00
THE nine Immigration officers who are suspects in a human trafficking case will be removed from their current
positions and transferred to other sections while waiting for police investigations to be completed.
Five are senior officers attached to the Pekan Nanas Immigration Detention Depot in Johor for several years.
Immigration directorgeneral Abdul Rahman Othman said the suspects will not be suspended from their duty until they are charged in court.
"They have yet to be proven guilty," said Abdul Rahman, adding that they are also conducting their own investigation. He also said that the department needs to also find out how long these illegal activities have been going on.
"With this latest development, we will closely monitor our officers' movements especially those assigned at the Thai-Malaysia border," said Abdul Rahman.
He said the arrest of his officers have marred the department's image and promised to work closely with the police to curb this problem.
The officers were believed to have smuggled the Rohingya immigrants who do not possess any United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) card.
Pekan Nanas Immigration Detention Depot is one of the 13 illegal immigrants detention centres in Malaysia. It has a capacity of 750 immigrants, while about 70 immigration officers are stationed there.
Two days ago, Bukit Aman CID director Datuk Seri MohdBakri Mohd Zinin revealed that police had made arrests in connection with human trafficking. The nine suspects are with the Immigration enforcement department and five are senior officers.
The suspects aged between 25 and 40 were arrested last Friday at various locations in Johor Baru and have been remanded until July 24.
An immigrant would usually pay between RM300 and RM2,000 to the local syndicate to manage their entry via Perlis or Kelantan.
If they fail to pay, they will be forced into labour at some fishery operations. The crackdown against human trafficking was triggered by a United States report earlier this year that Malaysia was not doing enough to address human trafficking in the country.
The US State Department had, in its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, placed Malaysia along Zimbabwe, Cuba and North Korea, among others, on the listof worst offenders for human trafficking.
The report referred to another report by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee three months ago,
which accused Malaysian Immigration officers of selling Myanmar refugees for about US$200 (RM700) a person to traffickers operating along Thailand's southern border.
The Prosecution Unit head at the Attorney-General's Chambers, Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah, had then said errant immigration officers, in various locations in Peninsular Malaysia would be prosecuted if they are involve.
THE nine Immigration officers who are suspects in a human trafficking case will be removed from their current
positions and transferred to other sections while waiting for police investigations to be completed.
Five are senior officers attached to the Pekan Nanas Immigration Detention Depot in Johor for several years.
Immigration directorgeneral Abdul Rahman Othman said the suspects will not be suspended from their duty until they are charged in court.
"They have yet to be proven guilty," said Abdul Rahman, adding that they are also conducting their own investigation. He also said that the department needs to also find out how long these illegal activities have been going on.
"With this latest development, we will closely monitor our officers' movements especially those assigned at the Thai-Malaysia border," said Abdul Rahman.
He said the arrest of his officers have marred the department's image and promised to work closely with the police to curb this problem.
The officers were believed to have smuggled the Rohingya immigrants who do not possess any United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) card.
Pekan Nanas Immigration Detention Depot is one of the 13 illegal immigrants detention centres in Malaysia. It has a capacity of 750 immigrants, while about 70 immigration officers are stationed there.
Two days ago, Bukit Aman CID director Datuk Seri MohdBakri Mohd Zinin revealed that police had made arrests in connection with human trafficking. The nine suspects are with the Immigration enforcement department and five are senior officers.
The suspects aged between 25 and 40 were arrested last Friday at various locations in Johor Baru and have been remanded until July 24.
An immigrant would usually pay between RM300 and RM2,000 to the local syndicate to manage their entry via Perlis or Kelantan.
If they fail to pay, they will be forced into labour at some fishery operations. The crackdown against human trafficking was triggered by a United States report earlier this year that Malaysia was not doing enough to address human trafficking in the country.
The US State Department had, in its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, placed Malaysia along Zimbabwe, Cuba and North Korea, among others, on the listof worst offenders for human trafficking.
The report referred to another report by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee three months ago,
which accused Malaysian Immigration officers of selling Myanmar refugees for about US$200 (RM700) a person to traffickers operating along Thailand's southern border.
The Prosecution Unit head at the Attorney-General's Chambers, Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah, had then said errant immigration officers, in various locations in Peninsular Malaysia would be prosecuted if they are involve.
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