Singaporean and friends detained 7 days after passports went unstamped in Johor
An oversight at Malaysian customs resulted in a week spent in lock-up and a RM3,000 ($940) fine for a group of Singaporean tourists.
According to Shin Min Daily News, one of the men, who did not want to be named, drove into Malaysia with four male friends on May 7 at about 11am.
After getting checked by officials at the Johor Checkpoint, they entered the country and enjoyed a five-day vacation in Kuala Lumpur and Johor Baru.
When one of them flew back to Singapore on an earlier date, he had no issues clearing the customs. However, the other four were stopped by officials as they tried to exit Johor on May 11.
The authorities informed them that they had no record of entry and their passports were not stamped.
One of them was allowed to return to Johor because he was Malaysian. The rest were told that they had to be detained.
One member of the group managed to contact his father for help. The father then contacted the Consulate General of Singapore in Johor for assistance.
On May 13, he was finally allowed to see his son, who was in handcuffs.
The men were finally released on May 17 after seven days.
They were each fined RM3,000 for entering Malaysia without a valid permit.
Lesson to be learnt here: Custom officials can make mistakes while carrying out their course of work, and it always pays to double check our passports once they’re done with them.
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