Shafie to meet Sabah immigration on Chinese tourists 'bypassing' document inspection

KOTA KINABALU (Jan 6): Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal will get a clarification from the state Immigration Department over the issue of Chinese tourists “bypassing” documents inspection at the Immigration counters at Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA).

He said detailed information on the issue was needed to enable improvement.

"I will ask the Immigration Department to clarify what is really going on," he told reporters here today.

He was responding to a media report on the latest case of Chinese tourists being detained, after they were found to have failed to get their documents stamped by the Immigration upon their arrivals into the state via KKIA.

The first incident was reported on Dec 10 last year, which saw four Chinese women arrested at Tawau Airport during passport inspection, after the authorities found their travel documents devoid of Immigration Entry Stamp.

Yesterday saw another three Chinese nationals arrested at the same airport due to the same issue.

All of them arrived from China at KKIA, before flying out to Tawau.