KUALA LUMPUR:The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) and the police require additional assets to address the issue of illegal migrants more effectively, says Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin.

He said this was because smugglers were using various methods and means to bring migrants into the country via ‘rat lanes’ or backdoor routes, and the matter should be addressed in the upcoming Budget.

“The government is urged to rethink the assets under the Ministry of Home Affairs. We need additional boats and ships in our arsenal, as well as on land, because we know these smugglers already have vehicles that are sometimes more sophisticated than ours.

"Not only new vehicles, but we also wish to have the latest technological devices such as drones as well as specific radars to discover the rat lanes used by them," he said during the ‘Bicara Naratif’ on Radio Televisyen Malaysia’s TV1 channel last night.

He said apart from that, the ministry will address the issue of forged identity cards and travel documents among foreigners by improving the systems under the Malaysian Immigration Department and the National Registration Department.

"Right now, applications for things such as visas are all done online, and we need a more sophisticated system in order to determine whether the person entering the country is a person with a valid passport or not.

"If we could do it using fingerprint technology before, of course, it can be done through 'Digital ID', so that we can ensure that there is no more forgery," he said.

-- BERNAMA