Afghan family with fake visas detained after spending 4 days wandering inside KLIA

New Straits Times

3 days ago

SEPANG: A family of four Afghan nationals who spent four days wandering inside the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) terminal was denied entry into Malaysia after authorities discovered they were attempting to enter the country using fake visas.
The group — consisting of one man and three adult women — arrived at KLIA on July 24 at 9.20pm via Emirates flight EK342 but failed to report to the immigration checkpoint upon arrival.
In a statement, the Malaysian Border Control and Protection Agency (MCBA) said the family's prolonged and suspicious presence at the terminal caught the attention of officers from the KLIA Terminal 1 Monitoring Unit.
"The four were among 132 foreign nationals screened during a document inspection and monitoring operation at the airport," it said.
Investigations revealed the individuals were "stranded passengers", a term used to describe travellers who enter the country but do not report to immigration within the stipulated time.
During interrogation, the group admitted they had been living inside the terminal for four days without undergoing immigration clearance.
"Further checks on their travel documents revealed that all four visas were forged.
The family later confessed they had never been to Uzbekistan, which was listed as their supposed transit country. They told authorities the counterfeit visas had been obtained from an agent for USD6,000 (RM25,386)," the agency said.
MBCA confirmed that all four individuals have been issued Not To Land (NTL) notices and are scheduled to be deported to Afghanistan on Wednesday via Emirates Airlines.
"This incident underscores our ongoing commitment to preventing the entry of foreign nationals using forged documents," it added.
The agency also reminded the public and travellers that strict action will be taken against any attempts to bypass Malaysia's immigration laws through fraudulent means.