'Immigration officer robbed us of RM15,000'

NSTP

KUALA LUMPUR: Two Sri Lankans have claimed that they were robbed of more than RM15,000 by an immigration officer at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Sept 11.

Police Watch Human Rights Committee secretary S. Manickavasagam said this allegedly happened to Krishnan Pillai Aklieswaran, 32, and Piratheeean shortly after they arrived from Colombo.

He said they had been asked to surrender the money in US currency, valuables and their passports to the officer on duty who left soon after.

"When the officer did not return, they made inquiries with another officer at the counter but were detained and placed in the immigration lock-up at the airport," he told a press conference yesterday.

They were held there from Sept 11 to Sept 15 on grounds that visa validations in their passports were false and then taken to the Illegal Immigrants Detention Centre in Semenyih.
Manickavasagam, who lodged a police report yesterday, said the two had not been released despite an immigration officer verifying that their passports and return air tickets belonged to them.

Krishnan and Piratheeean, who had come here to visit relatives, had claimed that the visas were issued by the Malaysian High Commission in Sri Lanka.

"We hope that the police will investigate the matter and release the two immediately as they are innocent."

He said a similar case occurred yesterday where four Sri Lankans, including a 11-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl, were detained on the same grounds.