Several drug smuggling cases involving Malaysians arrested overseas after arriving from Malaysia have raised public concerns over the effectiveness of security controls at the country’s exit points.
One such case involved a Malaysian pilot who was arrested at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta with 25 kilogrammes (kg) of drugs on July 28. The case came as a shock after the Border Control and Protection Agency (AKPS) confirmed that the man had cleared all security screening at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), including scanner checks.
(Contrary to common belief, KLIA’s scanning systems are supervised by Aviation Security (AVSEC) under Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB), and do not fall under the responsibility of AKPS.)
The following day, a man from Johor was arrested at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya after an inspection found one kg of methamphetamine and more than 1,000 ecstasy pills in his possession.
This was followed by the arrest of another man at the Woodlands Checkpoint in Singapore on Aug 1, and three women from Sabah at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Aug 3.
Four consecutive cases within a week have raised questions about how the prohibited substances managed to slip past the authorities’ surveillance at Malaysia’s exit points, only to be detected by authorities in the destination countries.
The incidents have also prompted questions over the effectiveness of scanning systems at the country’s entry and exit points. But to what extent is the technology really to blame?
Or could other weaknesses in the inspection chain have contributed to the incidents?
BAGGAGE SCREENING NOT SOLELY ABOUT DETECTING DRUGS
Commenting on the issue, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Department of Physics lecturer Prof Dr Suhairul Hashim said security systems at the country’s entry points were developed based on a layered security concept, with each airport having different operating procedures, levels of screening, risk assessments and intelligence information.
He said this meant security screening did not take place just once, but involved several layers of checks, beginning at the airport of origin and continuing through to the destination.
According to the recipient of the 2020 Top Research Scientist Malaysia (TRSM) award from the Academy of Sciences Malaysia, airport baggage screening was also not intended solely to detect drug trafficking.
Taking the pilot’s case as an example, he said AVSEC’s priority was to ensure aviation security, with screening carried out in accordance with standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the National Civil Aviation Security Programme (NCASP) before passengers boarded their flights, to prevent threats that could endanger aviation safety.
This included detecting threats such as firearms, explosives, radioactive materials, flammable substances and objects that could be used to hijack an aircraft.
“For this purpose, AVSEC uses various equipment such as baggage X-ray scanners, computed tomography (CT) scanners, body scanners, metal detectors and Explosive Trace Detection (ETD) equipment,” he said.
He said if a baggage image showed anything suspicious, AVSEC would hold the baggage and notify the relevant enforcement agency for further action, as its primary focus was to ensure the aircraft could depart safely.
Screening in the destination country, he said, served a different purpose, with greater emphasis placed on detecting the smuggling of prohibited items, including drugs, undeclared cash, wildlife and dutiable goods.
He said authorities in destination countries did not rely solely on scanning images, but also considered international intelligence, passenger risk profiles, travel history, behavioural observations and physical inspections when there were grounds for suspicion.
“In certain cases, such as drug detection, the services of K9 detection dogs are required. Therefore, a person who clears security screening in the country of origin can still be detained upon arrival at the next destination during subsequent screening.
“This is what happened to the Malaysians involved in the recent cases in Jakarta and Surabaya,” he said.
SCANNING TECHNOLOGY NOT 100 PER CENT ACCURATE
Suhairul said the public also needed to understand that scanning technology was not a system capable of delivering 100 per cent accurate results, as drugs such as methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine are organic substances with material densities similar to those of coffee, chocolate, spices, milk powder, soap and dried food.
Referring to conventional scanners that use single-energy X-rays, he said the technology produced images based on the amount of radiation passing through baggage.
The method could display the shape and density of objects but could not accurately distinguish the type of material, as objects with similar densities, such as drugs and coffee, or explosives and soap, could produce almost identical images.
“On an X-ray image, these materials produce almost similar colours and patterns. The situation becomes even more challenging when drugs are concealed among clothes, shoes, cosmetics or electronic devices, causing overlapping images that are difficult to interpret.
“In such situations, the use of baggage X-ray scanners needs to be supported by other factors, such as experienced officers, compliance with standard operating procedures, intelligence information and follow-up inspections,” he explained.
He said these limitations could be addressed through dual-energy X-ray technology, which uses two levels of X-ray energy simultaneously.
By comparing the absorption rates of the two energy levels, the system can estimate the effective atomic number (Zeff) and relative density of a material before classifying an object as organic, metallic or inorganic.
“For example, most drugs such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine are organic substances. Although their shapes may resemble food or everyday items, dual-energy analysis can identify their physical properties and display images using colour coding, thereby helping officers identify baggage that requires further inspection,” he said.
HUMAN-AI COLLABORATION
Suhairul said that due to the inherent limitations of the technology, the final decision still had to be made by enforcement officers with experience, professional judgement and access to intelligence information that AI does not possess.
In this context, the more appropriate concept was “Human-AI Collaboration”, involving cooperation between humans and AI. Therefore, AI technology needed to be continuously updated with new data and used as a decision-support system rather than completely replacing enforcement officers.
He said most countries used AI to improve the accuracy of scanner image analysis, as the technology could identify patterns or anomalies that might be overlooked by humans, thereby reducing the risk of human error, particularly when officers had to examine thousands of baggage images every day.
He said studies in aviation security showed that fatigue and repetitive tasks could reduce the alertness of officers operating scanning equipment.
“This is where AI can help by providing early warnings of suspicious images. However, AI is not an absolute solution because drug smuggling syndicates are constantly changing their modus operandi.
“Like humans, AI needs to be trained and updated because the technology can produce ‘false positives’, in which ordinary objects are mistakenly identified as threats, or ‘false negatives’, in which genuine threats are not detected, particularly when dealing with something that has never previously appeared in the system’s database,” he said.
Therefore, he said, the public should not hastily point fingers at any one party and conclude that Malaysia’s security system was more vulnerable to breaches than those of other countries.
“Instead, we should take a positive approach, where every incident provides an opportunity for the authorities to reassess the effectiveness of SOPs, enhance officer training, make wider use of AI and strengthen intelligence-sharing with neighbouring countries,” he said.
STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS TO DEVELOP AI ALGORITHMS
Meanwhile, Suhairul said the development of truly effective AI algorithms would be better pursued through strategic cooperation between enforcement agencies, universities, research institutions and trusted local technology companies.
“This approach would not only enable AI systems to be developed using the country’s actual data, but also prevent strategic security information from being stored or processed by external parties, which could pose risks to national security.
“AI is not merely a technological tool, but a capability multiplier for enforcement agencies. When combined with intelligence information, the expertise of operating officers and modern scanning systems, AI can strengthen the country’s security shield,” he said.
He said such measures could safeguard the sovereignty of the country’s borders while ensuring that Malaysia remained a safe, efficient and trusted trade and transportation hub internationally.
Bernama previously reported that UTM made history as the first institution in Southeast Asia to develop Radiation Portal Monitoring (RPM) technology and a Multi-View Drive-Through Cargo Scanning Machine equipped with AI.
Suhairul, who is also the project leader, was reported to have said that the technology served as the country’s first line of defence against the smuggling of dangerous goods, including weapons, explosives and radioactive materials that could be used for terrorist activities.
The scanning machine developed by the research team uses high-powered X-rays and AI to penetrate steel containers and detect their actual contents, including prohibited goods such as weapons, drugs and alcohol.
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