Flashing lights and official logos may look convincing, but appearances can be misleading.
A video showing a vehicle bearing the Immigration Department logo being used by a foreign national has gone viral. Is the claim true?
Verdict:
TRUE
Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said a Pakistani man has been detained for allegedly using the department's official logo and warning lights on a vehicle.
He said the Immigration Department detained the man in a special operation conducted at 4.30pm yesterday at a condominium in Setapak, following intelligence gathered from the viral video showing a vehicle bearing the Immigration Department logo being used by a foreign national.
He said an inspection at the premises also led to the detention of an Indonesian woman who was found to have overstayed in the country, as well as the discovery of two Indonesian passports believed to belong to other individuals, which were in the man's possession.
"Preliminary investigations into the individual featured in the viral video found that the video was recorded in April 2025 and was only uploaded as a WhatsApp status by the individual's wife on Aug 7. The individual's wife is in Indonesia, and the video was uploaded while she was there," he said in a statement here on Monday (Aug 10).
Zakaria said the Pakistani man was detained for allegedly committing offences under Section 12(1)(f) of the Passports Act 1966 and the Immigration Act 1959/63, while the Indonesian woman was detained under Section 15(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63.
Zakaria said following the arrests, the operation team traced the vehicle featured in the viral video, to a car wash premises on Jalan Kuching, Kuala Lumpur.
He said the vehicle's actual owner, also a Pakistani national, was arrested along with eight other foreign workers - four Bangladeshis, three Pakistanis and an Indian.
The vehicle owner is being investigated under Section 55B of the Immigration Act 1959/63, while the eight workers are suspected of offences under Section 6(1)(c) of the same law for not possessing valid travel documents.
He said the vehicle owner admitted installing the logo and directional warning lights for personal use, without any official purpose, and claimed he was unaware that doing so was an offence. He also claimed that the logo and lights had been removed before the video went viral.
All those detained, together with the vehicle featured in the video, were taken to the Immigration office for further action and investigation.
