JOHOR BARU: Tens of thousands of foreigners are stuck in long queues at the two land checkpoints with Singapore following a major technical glitch, which has knocked out most of the immigration autogates on Saturday (Jan 10).<\/p>\n
The worst affected is the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar Customs Immigration and Quarantine Complex (BSI), whereby foreigners are forced to wait up to two hours to clear immigration.<\/p>\n
It is learnt that at least 39 autogates at the entry and 29 machines at the exit areas of the bus halls at BSI were experiencing problems for a few days, but totally crashed on Saturday due to the huge influx of foreigners during the weekend.<\/p>\n
The Kompleks Sultan Abu Bakar (KSAB) Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex (KSAB) has 12 autogates.<\/p>\n
Malaysians using their local passports are still able to use the autogates, while the system for motorcycles and cars was also functioning properly.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven the autogates at the KTM train station at BSI were knocked off-line,\u201d a security official said, adding that efforts were being made to restore the system in stages.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first major disruption this year, and the timing is bad especially when we are getting a lot of foreign visitors in conjunction with Visit Malaysia and Visit Johor 2026,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n
The official added that the Border Control and Protection Agency (AKPS) has been directed to open up all the manual counters to handle the influx of people.<\/p>\n
The official said so far, the situation at KSAB was still manageable.<\/p>\n
In July last year, a similar incident occurred which knocked off autogates in major checkpoints around the country affecting more than 380,000 foreigners.<\/p>\n
At press time, AKPS is in the midst of issuing an official notification about the disruption to urge visitors to be prepared for delays.<\/p>\n
Since June 1, 2024, visitors from 63 countries, as well as diplomats serving in Malaysia and their family members, have been eligible to use the autogates for faster clearance.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n