KUALA LUMPUR: The Immigration Department will detain foreigners who are deliberately loitering around Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to evade inspections.
A TikTok video shared by the department shows it identified several individuals who were seen waiting in the terminal area, allegedly waiting for agents to facilitate their entry into Malaysia.
Some were reported to have lingered in the area for several days, pretending to be travellers preparing to board flights to other destinations.
KLIA Terminal 1 deputy operations control chief Suresh Nadarajah said that foreigners are required to proceed directly to immigration counters upon disembarking their flights.
"However, instead, they sit at Starbucks, purchase a bottle of water, and gather in groups. When we conduct inspections, we detain those suspected of wrongdoing. Some are found trying to avoid checks. They should head straight to the immigration counter upon arrival. Following this, we verify their flight information and visas one by one. Once complete, the monitoring unit may recommend issuing a Notice of Not to Land (NTL), and they will be sent back to their home countries," he said.
Previously, it was reported that the department had established a monitoring team to identify travellers who took an unusually long time before approaching immigration counters at KLIA. This initiative had successfully thwarted several attempts to enter Malaysia using the 'counter setting' method.