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JOHOR BAHRU – A Malaysian motorcyclist, who was caught on video entering Malaysia without scanning his passport, has come forward and surrendered to the authorities.<\/p>\n
The suspect, who is in his 40s, has been detained to assist with the investigations.<\/p>\n
A Home Ministry official said that the viral video showed a motorcyclist blatantly getting off his machine during peak hour traffic and then removing a cone along a closed motorcycle entry lane at the checkpoint before zooming past without getting his passport checked.<\/p>\n
The incident allegedly took place at the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex (BSI) in Johor Bahru on Nov 11.<\/p>\n
In addition to the motorcyclist, at least two other riders also used the same illegal exit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis man who surrendered is one of the three captured in the video,\u201d the official said, adding that the suspect would be charged in court soon.<\/p>\n
The official added that entering and leaving the country without producing a passport to an immigration officer was a serious offence under the Passport Act or Immigration Act, which was punishable with a fine or jail time.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, severe traffic congestion at the two land checkpoints with Singapore has worsened since the start of the Singapore school holidays on Nov 21.<\/p>\n
The official said the jams were bad between 6am and 9am and from 6pm to 9pm.<\/p>\n
Presently, some 100,000 motorcyclists use BSI and another 60,000 via the Sultan Abu Bakar CIQ complex (KSAB) daily to commute to Singapore.<\/p>\n
Motorcyclist Faizal Ali, 37, said the situation at both the checkpoints was bad for motorcyclists, especially during peak hours, and hoped something would be done to resolve the issue soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cDue to the irresponsible actions of a few individuals, all motorcyclists are now affected.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope the authorities will put up barriers or gates to close unmanned lanes instead of just using a traffic cone which can easily be moved,\u201d he said, adding that he was now forced to leave home earlier to avoid the \u00adcongestion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Another motorcyclist, who wished to be known as Teoh, 50, said more enforcement personnel should be deployed to prevent people from leaving and entering the country without scanning their passports.<\/p>\n
He said the scanning of passports at the manual motorcycle lanes was taking too long.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t understand why the system is so slow, as sometimes, it takes almost one minute to scan one passport,\u201d he said, urging for more expansion of lanes using QR codes for faster clearance.<\/p>\n
Although all the immigration counters were open during peak hours, he said for some reason, the whole process was taking too long.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not experience any congestion at the Singapore side except for about 20-minute delays when coming back in the evening,\u201d he said, adding that the new QR code under the National Integrated Immigration System (NIISe), which operates through the MyNIISe mobile app, was also unreliable at times.<\/p>\n
On Oct 16, the Malaysian Border Control and Protection Agency detained 26 Malaysians for not presenting their passports, with 13 of them charged at the Pekan Nenas immigration court and fined RM1,500 (S$470) each, while three pillion riders were released with warnings.<\/p>\n
Another 10 offenders were convicted on Nov 6 and fined RM1,000 each.<\/p>\n
Similar arrests and charges have also been carried out in the past on motorcyclists at the KSAB along the Second Link. THE STAR\/ASIA NEWS NETWORK<\/p>\n<\/div>\n