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`Poor security to blame for theft of handphones' [New Straits Time (Malaysia)](New Straits Time (Malaysia) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) KUALA LUMPUR: THE thief who made off with 1,407 units of Samsung Galaxy Note II, worth RM3.2 million, on Saturday had disguised himself as a forwarding agent. He claimed he had come to collect the smartphones on behalf of its owner from the cargo area at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Investigators believe the suspect may have received inside help as he knew exactly when to come and collect the goods. Airfreight Forwarders Association of Malaysia chairman Walter Culas said the man only had a visitor's tag as his identification. "The incident happened at noon. The staff, only hired two weeks ago by the company, handed over the smartphones without even asking the suspect to fill the delivery order (DO) form for further verification." He said the company only realised that a theft had occurred three hours later when the forwarding agent's staff came to collect the consignment and informed it that the person who collected the goods was not authorised by them. The 704kg consignment, comprising smartphones and other items, arrived on flight KE 369 from South Korea at 9am. It was also not taken into the freight forwarding company warehouse for verification before release, as should have been done according to standard operating procedures. "It was handed over to the bogus agent outside the Advanced Cargo Centre," said Culas. He said in urgent cases, the process would have been supervised by senior staff, with the agreement of both parties. "Nothing like that took place in this case." He said there was also no cross-checking at the exit and entry point of the Free Commercial Zone area, which houses hundreds of forwarding companies and warehouses. "We would have stopped the consignment from being taken out if the security personnel had stopped the person and the vehicle and asked for the DO for verification." Culas took Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad to task. "I have repeatedly told them that we need to improve the identification verification process to avoid incidents like this. An electronic system would be less hassle and it would also allow us to keep tabs on the people who move in and out of the zone." He said this issue was brought up two weeks ago when he had a meeting with the Free Zone authorities. "I hope something good will come out of all this. Have we not learnt from previous incidents " Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Syed Ismail Syed Azizan said of the seven suspects arrested so far, two were employees of a freight forwarding company. "We also arrested two women and several smartphone buyers whom we believe can help us solve this case." (c) 2012 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. |