BUKIT KAYU HITAM: Thailand has agreed with Malaysia’s request to extend the border checkpoint operations here to 24 hours from Jan 2019.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said his Thai counterpart, General Prawit Wongsuwon has expressed his government's agreement to the proposal.
Zahid, who is also Home Minister said for a start, the border checkpoint operations would be extended from the current 18 hours to 20 hours by September. This is upon the completion of the first phase of the new Bukit Kayu Hitam Immigration, Customs, Quarantine and Security (ICQS) Complex.
"I must thank the Thai government for agreeing to our request to extend the countries' border checkpoint operations to 24 hours by Jan 1, 2019," he said after inspecting work progress at the new ICQS Complex which is behind schedule.
This is his second visit to the site since April after the government came out with a solution to end prolonged dispute between two companies which formed a consortium to develop the project. It caused the project to be delayed by almost two years.
On a separate matter, Zahid said the Thai government had also agreed to Malaysia application to extradite three human trafficking syndicate kingpins to face a trial in the country. This is in connection with the discovery of illegal immigrants detention camps in Wang Kelian, Perlis two years ago.
"I have discussed the matter with General Prawit, who is also Thai Defence Minister and he had agreed to the request under our existing Mutual Legal Assistant (MLA)," he said.
Zahid added that the number of kingpins that believe to be related to the cases in Malaysia were only three and not 10 as reported earlier.
In May 2015, Malaysian police uncovered mass graves of human trafficking syndicates victims in the woods of Bukit Burma in Wang Kelian. Some 153 bodies and skeletons were exhumed from the graves and were given a proper burial at a site in Pokok Sena.