Mustafar (seated, centre) speaking at the press conference.
KUCHING: The Immigration Department since last week has managed to foil attempts by 40 foreigners to exit through domestic arrivals at the Kuching International Airport despite arriving on an international flight.
They had been caught holding both domestic flight boarding passes and international flight boarding passes.
Some of them were detained during an operation carried out last night.
Immigration Director General Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali, who announced this at a press conference today, said the group of foreigners arrived at the airport from an international destination.
Upon arrival at the airport, they produced boarding passes for a domestic flight purportedly to avoid immigration clearance.
However, Mustafar did not reveal the country of origin of these foreigners when pressed for answers by members of the media.
“I cannot reveal much because this case is still under investigation.
“They (these foreigners) are now being detained at an immigration depot,” he said.
He added the Immigration Department will not compromise any attempts to bypass immigration clearance at the country’s entry and exit points, since this can pose a threat to the country’s security.