MEDIA ReLEASE

4 MAY 2012

Immigration New Zealand border staff catch people smuggler

A suspected people smuggler has been caught at Auckland airport after immigration officers were alerted to his suspicious behaviour.

Immigration New Zealand (INZ) staff profiling flights out of Buenos Aires were alerted that four purported Malaysian nationals had been refused entry into Argentina and were being returned back home to Malaysia via Auckland.

INZ’s Border Operations manager, Karen Urwin, says all four passengers were intercepted by immigration officers in the transit area of Auckland airport. “The officers noted that their accents were inconsistent and that the names in their Malaysian passports did not match their ethnicity,” she says.

All four passengers were removed from the transit area and interviewed by immigration officers. Their passports were seized and it was found that three of the four passports were false.

Ms Urwin says that during their interviews three of the passengers confessed they were in fact nationals of the Peoples’ Republic of China and had to pay the fourth passenger a sum of money to be smuggled into South America via New Zealand.

The three Chinese nationals were returned to China last night after a search by Customs found their genuine Chinese passports in their baggage.

The alleged people smuggler is a Malaysian citizen who was travelling on a genuine Malaysian passport. He is being held at the airport and will be returned to Malaysia, where officials have been briefed of the situation. He could not be prosecuted under New Zealand law as he and the other passengers were not attempting to enter the country.

“The result of this operation is a testament to the fantastic job carried out by our immigration staff in close consultation with Customs officers at the border every day,” Ms Urwin says. “While New Zealand was not the target of the smuggling this time it could be a different story next time.”

INZ is now working with other jurisdictions to identify other passengers who may previously have been smuggled by the Malaysian national.

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