Patrol officers at Malaysia-Thailand border involved in smuggling, MACC reveals
The anti-graft agency reveals video clips of officers accepting bribes from smugglers and watching the activity without taking any action.
PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today blamed corruption among border patrol officers for the occurrence of smuggling activities across the Malaysia-Thailand borderline.
Badri Azni, a senior superintendent at the MACC forensics division, said security cameras at Padang Besar in Perlis had caught officers accepting bribes and allowing smugglers from both Malaysia and Thailand to move goods across the border.
“In these clips, we can see the smugglers meeting up and bribing the officers at the checkpoints,” he said, showing portions of the videos in a press conference at the MACC headquarters here today.
He said the clips showed that such activities had happened when the officers changed shifts between 6am and 9am. He added that the smugglers appeared fearless about crossing the border.
He said fences were easily broken and that smugglers had also been stationed on the other side of the barriers to receive the goods.
“We suspect the smuggled goods to be flour, cooking oil, fertiliser, diesel and petrol,” he said, adding that the smugglers had been able to carry these items and run with ease.
The security cameras also captured the activity on the Thai side of the border where people were waiting with vehicles such as motorcycles and SUVs to transport the goods, he said.
“We can see border patrol officers allowing foreign vehicles to park on the Malaysian side of the border and pretending not to see them as they smuggle items like sugar and cooking oil.”
He added that the officers were seen using their phones or even watching the activity without taking any action.
MACC chief commissioner Latheefa Koya, who was also present at the press conference, said the clips from Padang Besar showed only a small part of the operation.
She said they were collected from 2017 until May this year and delivered to MACC, which took time to verify the clips before revealing them to the public.
“We have passed the evidence to the police to take the necessary action,” she added.
Latheefa said the individuals in the videos have yet to be identified but that the police should be able to do so upon going through the clips.
She said she had decided to reveal the matter today to show that “rampant corruption can affect the country’s security”.
“This is a classic example of what else could be travelling across the borders, like animals, drugs, or even human trafficking.
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“Because of this breakthrough, we now know how easy it is for such things to happen at the borders. We are exposing this so that they know they are being watched.”