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Malaysia
This Week in AsiaHealth & Environment

Malaysian police investigate how pilot smuggled drugs past 4 layers of airport checks

A KLIA security screener will be summoned for questioning after a Malaysia Airlines pilot is arrested with 70,000 Ecstasy pills in Jakarta

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Indonesian Customs officials display the uniform of a Malaysian pilot arrested for drug smuggling during a press conference at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Friday. Photo: AFP
Indonesian Customs officials display drugs smuggled by a Malaysian pilot as evidence during a press conference at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Friday. Photo: AFP
Indonesian Customs officials on Friday prepare to display the evidence seized from a Malaysian pilot at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Photo: AFP
Iman Muttaqin Yusof
Malaysian police have identified a Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) security screener as a person of interest after a Malaysia Airlines pilot allegedly carried more than 70,000 Ecstasy pills through four layers of checks before the drugs were intercepted in Jakarta.

Bukit Aman narcotics chief Hussein Omar Khan said on Tuesday that the airport employee assigned to the screening area used by the pilot would be summoned and could face legal action. “We will call him in for questioning and, if required, make the necessary arrest,” Hussein told local reporters.

The case has focused scrutiny on the gap between airport screening designed to stop weapons and explosives from being carried on board and customs enforcement for narcotics. Questions have been raised too about whether organised crime was exploiting aircrew status to escape detection.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke was also pulled into the picture after the Malaysian Chinese Association late on Tuesday demanded that he explain how the pilot’s luggage cleared KLIA’s screening system.
The party, a component of the Barisan Nasional coalition, said Loke could not distance himself from the controversy because the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) fell under his ministry’s purview.

Police said the 39-year-old pilot obtained the drugs from a flat in Ampang, near the capital of Kuala Lumpur, two days before his arrest. He checked the suitcase in at KLIA, left it there, flew to Kota Kinabalu and returned before departing for Jakarta with the same baggage, according to Bernama state news agency.

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