Friday August 28, 2009
Sharing info on human trafficking
By YENG AI CHUN
KUALA LUMPUR: Human traffickers have turned to smuggling people into Australia by sea and officials from Down Under now want to lend a hand to Malaysia to stop the trafficking.
Home Ministry deputy secretary-general Datuk Raja Azahar Raja Abdul Manap said they were looking into a mechanism to tighten control at ports which are the favoured passage for human trafficking and smuggling.
“We currently have a second layer of checking at all major airports, with Australian Immigration Airport Liaison officers conducting checks just before passengers board a plane.
“This has been very effective and has prevented people with forged documents to be smuggled into Australia. However, because of this, these smugglers and traffickers have used other routes, like the sea.
“Australia is going straight to the source. It has identified Malaysia as a transit point. It hopes to help Malaysia resolve the problem,” he told the press yesterday.
He also said Malaysia and Australia would be setting up a common database to combat human trafficking and smuggling.
Raja Azahar said the two countries would share information including that of previous cases and leads.
“Currently, information is only exchanged between the police forces of the two countries,” he said, adding that both countries would appoint a lead agency in their respective countries to collect the information from all their enforcement agencies.
“For Malaysia, the focal point will be the Royal Malaysian Police.
“On the other side, the Australian Customs and Border Protection Services will be the focal point because they are responsible for border control,” he said.
On another matter, Immigration director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Osman said Malaysia, which would be hosting the Pacific Rim Intelligence Conference next month, would focus more on the issue of human trafficking and smuggling.
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