UPDATE:
October 21, 2007 16:44 PM
MAB Asked To Step Up Security At Airports
PENANG, Oct 21 (Bernama) -- Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy
today instructed Malaysia Airports Bhd (MAB) to introduce additional measures to beef up security at airports in the country. He said despite airports in Malaysia, especially the KL International Airport (KLIA), having met security standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), there was still room for improvement in terms of airport security. The MAB, he said, had been asked to submit proposals on the matter to the government as soon as possible. "Although, according to the ICAO audit, security at the KLIA meets the required standards, MAB should not rest on its laurels as it should continue beefing up security at airports," he told reporters after chairing the Penang MCA liaison committee meeting here. He was reacting to an incident where Palestinian Osama R.M. Shublaq managed to slip into Singapore onboard a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight via KLIA. Shublaq, who was discovered when he fell off the nose wheel of the SIA plane, was then sent to Malaysia and is now in remand to assist the Malaysian police in their probe.Chan said the incident gave a negative image of Malaysia
= = == == = == = Original Post
Malaysiakini has the KLIA SIA Plane Hitch Hiker to S'PORE story as
KLIA plane wheel stowaway charged in S'pore court Oct 13, 07 3:51am and the latest story ON
Wee to Suhakam: Probe conduct of quartet Beh Lih Yi | Oct 19, 07 4:16pm with its
Malaysiakini.tv ON Monkey business in ban lifting
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Despite a serious breach of security, our Transport Minister can boast that “ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) has just conducted security audit on KLIA and we have complied with all ICAO requirements” and that ”whether there was any breach in security at KLIA”. What if it was a stowaway bomber then he considers it a breach? (See report below)
He has the gall to ask the “public should not doubt the security aspect at KLIA.” And just because a police report has been made, he would not comment further.
And the immigration department should upgrade its computer systems search capability. Just over a small name difference its computers can bring in records.
Showing “there is no record of him entering Malaysia legally” Like Google they should be capable to ask “ Do you mean Shuback or maybe Shulace?”
He further showed his ignorance how "he survived under that kind of situation...up in 29,000 feet". Mr Minister, KL- S'PORE is just a short hop of 55 mins!,
Stowaway Osama was here as a tourist BERNAMA; KUALA LUMPUR, Fri.:
THE Immigration Department's Director-General, Datuk Wahid Mohd Don, has verified that Palestinian Osama R.M. Shublaq had entered the country on Sept 15 as a tourist with a valid social visit pass. “There is a slight difference in the name on his international passport. Perhaps this was the reason why the immigration authorities had failed to trace the record of his entry into the country," he said when contacted by Bernama here today. “The expiry date of the pass was Oct 14.” Osama has been remanded by the Magistrate’s Court in Bangi, Selangor, for five days as police investigate how he managed to stowaway on a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore on Oct 11 without being detected.
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ABOVE: Osama R.M. Shublaq being taken to the KLIA police lock-up
Stowaway Suspect Remanded For Five Days
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 (Bernama) -- The Magistrate's Court in Bangi,Selangor, today issued an order to remand for five days a man who had allegedly stowed away on a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore on Oct 11. Selangor CID chief SAC II Mazlan Mansor said the man would be investigated for trespassing, an offence which carries a jail term of up to two years and a maximum fine of RM1,000, or both, on conviction. Last Friday, Palestinian Osama R.M.Shublaq, 27, was charged in a Singapore lower court for entering the republic without a valid pass or permit. Osama is said to have hidden in the nose wheel of the SIA aircraft on Flight SQ119 and had fallen from the plane after it had landed at the Changi International Airport in Singapore.
However, the prosecution later withdrew the charge and Osama was discharged and deported here on the orders of the Singapore authorities following a request by Malaysia. Malaysian authorities did not have any indication how the man could have stowed away on the flight which had departed the KL International
Airport (KLIA) at 10.56pm. An investigation by Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) showed that the closed circuit television cameras did not record any movement and act of trespassing at the airport. The Immigration Department also did not have any record of the man having entered or left the country.
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2007/10/19
Cops may now learn how Osama sneaked onto plane
By : Lee Shi-Ian, Marc Lourdes and Ranjeetha Pakiam; SEPANG:
Finally, answers will be forthcoming on how a Palestinian breached security at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Malaysian authorities had been lamenting that they had no access to stowaway, Osama R.M. Shublaq, and did not have a clue on how he had boarded a Singapore Airlines flight at KLIA. They were contemplating making a request to Singapore to question the 27-year-old Palestinian who was being held in the republic. Their concerns were put to rest yesterday when Osama was deported to Malaysia after the Singapore Subordinate Courts acquitted him of entering the republic illegally. He was put on a Singapore Airlines flight which landed at KLIA at 5.55pm and was immediately taken into custody by Immigration Department officials. Osama was later handed over to Sepang police and questioned for over an hour by the Selangor CID chief SAC II Mazlan Mansor, who is heading investigations. Mazlan said this was a matter of national security and declined to comment further. It is, however, learnt that Osama had maintained that he had entered Malaysia legally although Immigration Department records showed no evidence of him entering the country. Checks are now being conducted to verify his claim. Osama was then sent to the KLIA police lock-up and is expected to be produced at the Sepang magistrate’s court today where police will apply for a remand order. He is being investigated for trespassing on a protected area, a charge under Section 7 of Protected Areas and Protected Places Act 1959 which carries a two-year jail sentence with fine upon conviction. Authorities here were concerned because after five days of intense investigations, they were clueless as to how Osama had breached security at KLIA. Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy had said that they did not know how the Palestinian made it to the KLIA tarmac unnoticed. Osama had not appeared on any closed-circuit television camera nor were there any intrusions along the perimeter fencing. On claims that this incident was a major security breach, Chan said that the International Civil Aviation Organisation had conducted a security audit late last year and the airport was found to be in full compliance with requirements. The incident, however, left KLIA officials red-faced as it happened at a time when airports around the world were tightening security procedures.Osama was discovered when he fell 2.4 metres from the nose wheel well of the Boeing 777-200 when the plane landed at the Changi International Airport in Singapore on Oct 12.Flight staff were amazed that the man survived the journey as he could have been crushed by the retracting nose wheel, lack of oxygen at high altitude or the cold.
Friday October 19, 2007; STAR
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Palestinian stowaway deported to Malaysia
SEPANG: Singapore has deported the Palestinian stowaway who hid in the front wheel of a Singapore Airlines (SIA) jet from KL International Airport to Changi Airport last Thursday. Several Singapore police officers escorted Osama R.M. Shublaq, 27, on board a SIA flight that arrived here at 6pm Thursday. Singapore has decided not to charge him. If he had been convicted under Immigration offences in Singapore, he could have been jailed up to six months, caned, or fined up to S$6,000 (RM14,000). It is learnt the officers escorting Shublaq handed him over to Selangor police. “We will produce him before a magistrate’s court for a remand order to facilitate our investigations,” CID director Commissioner Datuk Christopher Wan Soo Kee said. It is learnt Shublaq, an engineer, breached security at KL International Airport by climbing over the facility’s perimeter fencing. It is also learnt that Shublaq entered the country legally last month and had sought political asylum for himself and his family at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
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October 16, 2007 20:32 PM
MAHB Lodges Police Report On Stowaway Incident
PUTRAJAYA, Oct 16 (Bernama) -- Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) Tuesday lodged a police report calling on the authorities to conduct thorough investigations into the incident of a Palestinian man slipping into Singapore on a Singapore Airlines plane which flew in from KL International Airport (KLIA).
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy (ABOVE) said the report was lodged to enable the Malaysian police to conduct full-scale investigations into the October 11 incident, including interviewing the Palestinian, who is being held in Singapore. "We just received a report from the Singapore police yesterday. Based on that, we made a police report this morning to enable Malaysian police to start investigations. "This is because there are a lot of questions left unanswered in this case especially as to the real intention of this gentleman. Based on the little information we have, the immigration records show there is no record of him entering Malaysia legally and how he survived under that kind of situation...up in 29,000 feet," he told reporters today. Chan said he could not comment much on the incident as it was now under police investigations but the public should not doubt the security aspect at KLIA.
ABOVE: 2005 only, No more now
"I must tell you the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) has just conducted security audit on KLIA and we have complied with all ICAO requirements," he said. Chan said MAHB closed-circuit surveillance cameras also did not pick up any visual of the Palestinian anywhere in the airport and checks at the airport's security fences did not reveal any sign of break-ins.
"So many questions are left unanswered. We need to go through thoroughly. Let our police take some time to look into it," he said. He, however, declined to divulge contents of the Singapore police report on the incident or whether there was any breach in security at KLIA. A Palestinian, Osama R.M. Shublaq, 27, managed to sneak into a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-200 aircraft via the nose wheel last Thursday. The Palestinian stunned the ground crew waiting to serve flight SQ119 from KLIA when the man fell from the nose wheel of the aircraft after it landed at the Changi International Airport just past midnight. He was handed over to the police and was charged in a Singapore court on Friday with entering the country illegally without a valid permit. He faces up to six months' jail or a fine of up to S$6,000 (RM14,000). Chan, who had ordered for a full probe into the incident, received a report today.
Meanwhile, Datuk Azmi Murad, MAHB's senior general manager (operations and services), confirmed the report was lodged at Sepang district police headquarters.
Declining to disclose details of the report, he said, MAHB, as the operator of KLIA, wanted the police to carry out full-scale investigations into the incident. Asked if sabotage was one angle being looked into, he said: "I don't want to comment on speculations, let the police do their job."
Stowaway Osama was here as a tourist
ABOVE: Osama R.M. Shublaq being taken to the KLIA police lock-up
ABOVE: 2005 only, No more now
3 Comments:
I am a frequent air traveler and i must say getting in and out of Malaysia may be a breeze as compared to other airports in the world but don't mistaken it for efficiency. Rather it is the deplorable work attitude of the all security personnel there. The way they scanned passengers hand carry items and the way that others does it elsewhere speaks volumes about our work attitude.
The moment one places a wad of money and/or coins, you can be sure that the security personnel will approach you to have a closer look (as if they haven't seen money before!) or perhaps they had other motives.
Sooner or later, Malaysia will be a pariah as far as airport security is concern.
KLIA World's Best Airport [as far as worst security standards are concerned]
Expect a lot of talking and no action (NATO standard: No Action Talk Only), all will be whitewashed and or covered up.
The lackadaisical airport security axillary police are disinterested, half hearted and surely must be in cahoots with unscrupulous people,eg.the taxi touts who still plague the passengers arriving via the KLIA international exit gate on level 2.
If thinking is allowed, then let me think aloud.
Was this guy employed as a casual labourer and issued with a KLIA daily security pass?
If he climbed the perimeter fence, how did he manage to get all the way to the Satellite terminal without being seen?
The Immigration Dept.is now saying he entered the country legally after first saying they had no record of him, and the Ministry of Transport earlier said that the perimeter fence had not been breached, but now they say he climbed it. Something stinks here. Let's await yet another cover up job. KLIA security is very weak, that is without doubt. A terrorist would find it a soft target, let us hope that there is no terrorist just around the corner. waiting to attack KLIA.
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