Tampering with passports common menace, says Malaysian Tourism

Allaying apprehensions of "lax" security in the wake of its missing aircraft, Malaysian tourism authorities said tampering with passports for travel is not an aberration and assured safe travel to the tourists.
"This has happened at many places... People tamper with passports and change their photos for whatever reasons... We can at best address our immigration system," Malaysian Tourism director-general Mirza Mohammed Taiyab told reporters here today.
He was replying to a question on how safe is Malaysia for tourists, particularly amidst reports that two of the passengers on the MH 370 flight, which remains untraceable on the 11th day, were travelling on stolen passports.

The incidents of passengers slipping through such passports happen all the time, he said adding, "this is unfortunate that it has happened here (too)".
Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER flight MH370 with 239 people onboard had departed from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport for Beijing on March 8 and since then it has been missing.
A massive hunt, involving Navy and Air Force of 25 nations, has not yielded any result so far.

Stating that security of international standards is maintained at all airports which is also monitored by various agencies, Taiyab said Malaysia will try to address the immigration issues, if any.

"We can at best address the immigration system that we have there," he said.
Defending the hosting of a tourism promotion event at a time when the entire world is shocked at the incident and family members and relatives of those onboard the missing plane are going through anxious moments, the official said business should continue.
"This event was planned much earlier. We discussed in great details and then felt that we should not let down the industry. Show has to go on... Business has to continue... The industry has invested in this hugely...," he said.
Reiterating that the Malaysian government is committed to the safety and security of the tourists, Malaysian consul general in Mumbai Mohammed Hatim Abas said, "Let's pray for a good end."

The tourism official, while admitting that there were some postponements in bookings on the China sector, said travel on other sectors had returned to normal level.