Kuala lumpur: Several drug smuggling cases involving Malaysians arrested overseas after arriving from Malaysia have raised public concerns over the effectiveness of security controls at the country's exit points. One such case involved a Malaysian pilot who was arrested at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta with 25 kilogrammes (kg) of drugs on July 28. The case came as a shock after the Border Control and Protection Agency (AKPS) confirmed that the man had cleared all security screening at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), including scanner checks.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the following day, a man from Johor was arrested at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya after an inspection found one kg of methamphetamine and more than 1,000 ecstasy pills in his possession. This was followed by the arrest of another man at the Woodlands Checkpoint in Singapore on Aug 1, and three women from Sabah at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Aug 3. Four consecutive cases within a week have raised questions about how the prohibited substances managed to slip past the authorities' surveillance at Malaysia's exit points, only to be detected by authorities in the destination countries.
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Department of Physics lecturer Prof Dr Suhairul Hashim commented on the issue, stating that security systems at the country's entry points were developed based on a layered security concept, with each airport having different operating procedures, levels of screening, risk assessments, and intelligence information. He emphasized that security screening did not take place just once but involved several layers of checks, beginning at the airport of origin and continuing through to the destination.
According to Prof Dr Suhairul Hashim, airport baggage screening was also not intended solely to detect drug trafficking. Taking the pilot's case as an example, he explained that AVSEC's priority was to ensure aviation security, with screening carried out in accordance with standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the National Civil Aviation Security Programme (NCASP) before passengers boarded their flights, to prevent threats that could endanger aviation safety.
Suhairul noted that scanning technology was not a system capable of delivering 100 per cent accurate results, as drugs such as methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine are organic substances with material densities similar to those of coffee, chocolate, spices, milk powder, soap, and dried food. He highlighted the limitations of conventional scanners that use single-energy X-rays, which produce images based on the amount of radiation passing through baggage but cannot accurately distinguish the type of material.
In response to these limitations, Suhairul advocated for the use of dual-energy X-ray technology, which uses two levels of X-ray energy simultaneously and can identify the physical properties of materials, helping officers identify baggage that requires further inspection. He also stressed the importance of 'Human-AI Collaboration', where AI technology is used as a decision-support system rather than completely replacing enforcement officers.
Suhairul emphasized that the public should not hastily blame any one party and conclude that Malaysia's security system was more vulnerable to breaches than those of other countries. Instead, incidents should be seen as opportunities for the authorities to reassess the effectiveness of standard operating procedures, enhance officer training, make wider use of AI, and strengthen intelligence-sharing with neighboring countries.
He further suggested that the development of effective AI algorithms would be better pursued through strategic cooperation between enforcement agencies, universities, research institutions, and trusted local technology companies. This approach would enable AI systems to be developed using the country's actual data and prevent strategic security information from being stored or processed by external parties.
Bernama previously reported that UTM made history as the first institution in Southeast Asia to develop Radiation Portal Monitoring (RPM) technology and a Multi-View Drive-Through Cargo Scanning Machine equipped with AI. Suhairul, who is also the project leader, stated that the technology served as the country's first line of defense against the smuggling of dangerous goods, including weapons, explosives, and radioactive materials that could be used for terrorist activities. The scanning machine developed by the research team uses high-powered X-rays and AI to penetrate steel containers and detect their actual contents, including prohibited goods such as weapons, drugs, and alcohol.