BUKIT KAYU HITAM: The Kedah Immigration Department has heightened security checks at the Malaysia-Thailand border to look out for the suspect in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) shooting incident yesterday.
Kedah Immigration director Mohd Ridzzuan Mohd Zain said the department had also shared information regarding the case with its counterparts in Thailand.
"We have received an official directive from the police to detain the suspect and will hand him over to the police for further action.
"All immigration officers stationed at Kedah's land, sea, and air border checkpoints have been informed about the suspect's identity, specifically his passport particulars.
"We are extending our full cooperation to the police to apprehend the suspect. We have also formally notified our counterparts in Thailand," he told reporters after joining surveillance operations at the Bukit Kayu Hitam Immigration, Customs, Quarantine, and Security (ICQS) Complex today.
Ridzzuan said that security measures had been intensified at all 10 official exit points, including land, sea, and air routes statewide, after receiving information that the suspect was heading northbound.
He did not rule out the possibility of the suspect attempting to cross borders through illegal routes, particularly by sea.
"But if his passport is not stamped in Malaysia, the Thai authorities will notify us if he is there. We will be able to repatriate him as we have strong cooperation with the Thai authorities," he added.
Ridzzuan said they were aware that the suspect may attempt to evade capture using forged travel documents.
"In such cases, we will check his biometrics to match with the physical passport because the passport contains a chip with all identification data.
"Our officers have been given detailed instructions for visual identification," he added.
In the 1.20am incident on Sunday, a man fired two shots at his wife at the entrance of the arrival hall of KLIA. One of the shots hit a bodyguard of the intended victim.
Federal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain said police had launched a manhunt and urged the suspect Hafizul Harawi, 38, to turn himself in.
It was reported that police had distributed photographs of the suspect to all entry points in the north of the peninsula and neighbouring countries.