A Sri Lankan man's attempt to illegally secure a Malaysian passport ended in failure when his suspicious behavior led to his arrest. The incident occurred at the UTC Komtar Immigration Office in Penang, where the man, accompanied by a Malaysian woman claiming to be his mother, sought to apply for a Malaysian passport.

The plan quickly unraveled when immigration officers noticed discrepancies in the documents provided. The man's paperwork indicated that he was a 10-year-old boy, a claim that starkly contrasted with his adult appearance. This immediately raised red flags among the officers, who then proceeded to question him further.

According to Penang State Immigration Department director Nur Zulfa Ibrahim, the situation became even more suspicious when the man struggled to comprehend the questions posed to him. Sensing something was off, the head of the office initiated a preliminary investigation into both the man and the woman claiming to be his mother.

During the investigation, it was discovered that the man could not speak either Malay or Tamil, the languages commonly spoken by the Indian community in Malaysia. Faced with mounting evidence, the woman eventually confessed that she had been paid to pose as the man's mother. The man, in turn, admitted to being a Sri Lankan national attempting to fraudulently obtain a Malaysian passport.

Both individuals were promptly arrested under the Passport Act 1966, and further investigations are ongoing to determine the full extent of the scheme. This case highlights the vigilance of immigration officers in detecting and preventing illegal attempts to obtain Malaysian citizenship.