AUSTRALIA: Malindo Air Crew Arrested After Smuggling $21m Worth Of Drugs

Police have busted an international drug syndicate that they allege has been using airline cabin crew on board flights from Malaysia to smuggle drugs into Australia over a number of years.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Victoria Police have arrested eight people in the past 10 days who they allege brought heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine worth $21 million into Australia.

Assistant Commissioner Tess Walsh from Victoria Police said the arrests occurred as part of Operation Sunrise, which involved the AFP, Australian Border Force and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.

The joint investigative team has alleged that the syndicate used cabin crews at Malindo Air, a small airline based in Malaysia, to bring the drugs into the country.

Investigators allege the drugs were brought in via Melbourne and Sydney, carried on the bodies of the cabin crew.

One defendant allegedly told investigators it was his 20th trip into Australia.

Operation Sunrise is a complex, five-month operation targeting an alleged Vietnamese organised crime syndicate based in Melbourne, Assistant Commissioner Walsh said.

Assistant Commissioner Walsh said police believed the syndicate had been operating for at least five years and that the drugs seized so far were clearly not the total amount of drugs alleged to have been imported.

This is a significant seizure but I think reality would say that it's not the total amount of drugs that this team have brought into this country, she said.

Intelligence would tell us that this crew has been operating for some years, I would say five plus I don't know whether or not it's decades.

Those arrested by police include a 38-year-old woman arrested on January 7 in Tullamarine, and another six people arrested in raids at Sunshine North and inner-city Melbourne a day later.

On January 14, a woman from Richmond was also arrested.

Two of the defendants were Vietnamese-born Australians.

Six kilograms of heroin were seized, as well as 8kg of methamphetamine and half a kilo of cocaine.

Luxury cars, $100,000 in cash and drug paraphernalia were also seized.

Assistant Commissioner Walsh said the investigation was active and ongoing.

Malindo Air's website describes it as a premium airline with headquarters in Petaling Jaya, a town just outside of Kuala Lumpur.

In a statement, Malindo Air it was aware that one of its cabin crew had been arrested on arrival at Melbourne Airport on January 7.

While the airline said it had not had any official communication with its staff member or the AFP over the crew member's detention, the person had been suspended with immediate effect.

It said none of the other Malindo Air crew on the flight were detained.

Malindo Air stands ready to co-operate with all the relevant authorities be it in Australia or in Malaysia in this regard, the airline said.

Given all that we know to date and based on the findings of our internal investigations, we are confident that this arrest appears to be an isolated incident arising out of a crew's misconduct.


Tourism Observer

MALAYSIA: Malindo Air

Malindo is a Low Budget Airline. Malindo Air is an airline based in Malaysia, headquartered in Petaling Jaya. It is a joint venture between National Aerospace and Defence Industries (NADI) (51%) of Malaysia and Lion Air of Indonesia (49%). The name "Malindo" is derived from the names of respective countries: Malaysia and Indonesia. Malindo Air initially planned to start operation on 1 May 2013 from the new KLIA2 terminal. However, Malindo Air brought forward the launch date to mid-March 2013 with domestic destinations.

The airline offers only economy class and business class seats.

For its jet routes, Malindo Air provides a personal TV (in-flight entertainment system) in every seat, light snacks and free meal, seat pitches of 32" and 45" for economy class and business class respectively, and free baggage allowances of 20 kg & 30 kg. Furthermore, wifi service will be available from June onwards.

The airline also has expanded on a parallel turboprop service, focusing mainly secondary routes within 2-hour radius from Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport. Pioneer destinations include Penang, Johor Bahru and Kota Bahru.

Guests travelling on board Malindo Air’s Boeing 737-900ER from KLIA will enjoy extra legroom at no additional cost as all seats in economy have a seat pitch of 32”. All seats in economy class are also fitted with In Flight Entertainment system (IFE) that offer guest the latest Asian and Hollywood movie blockbusters, TV Programmes and interactive games to choose from at no additional charge.

Business Class passengers enjoy a seat pitch of 45” between them and each seats fitted with personal 13-inch screen stowed away under their seat rest and complimentary baggage allowance of up to 30kg and a full meal service with every business class ticket purchased.

Economy Class

A meal or snack and non alcoholic beverages are provided complimentary
Seat pitch of 32inch with some recline; seat selection for a small fee
Seat back screens show movies and TV shows on demand on the 737-900
No blankets or pillows
Included baggage allowance of 20kgs

Business Class

Superior meal and beverages are provided complimentary
Seat pitch of 45 inch with recline
Seat back screens show movies and TV shows on demand on the 737-900
No blankets or pillows
Included baggage allowance of 30kgs

Malindo

Destinations MALINDO AIR:
Malaysia

Alor Setar

Johor Bahru

Langkawi

Kuala Lumpur (HUB)

Subang (HUB)

Kuala Terengganu

Kota Bharu

Kota Kinabalu

Kuching

Penang

Sibu

Bangladesh

Dhaka

Chittagong

India

Ahmedabad

Delhi

Mumbai

Tiruchirappalli

Indonesia

Denpasar

Jakarta

Thailand

Bangkok (by Lion Air)

MALAYSIA: Malindo Air Launches Daily Service From Kuala Lumpur To Colombo

Malindo Air launched a daily service from Kuala Lumpur to Colombo on last 18th December 2015 expanding and strengthening their operations in Sri Lanka. Malindo Air is a Malaysian airline with headquarters in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. The airline is the result of a joint venture between National Aerospace and Defense Industries (NADI) of Malaysia and Lion Air of Indonesia.

The name Malindo signifies a cooperative pact between the two countries, derived from the countries’ names – Malaysia and Indonesia. Malindo Air operates from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) and the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (also known as the Subang Airport, Subang SkyPark or LTSAAS) in Subang, Selangor, Malaysia. Malindo has selected Colombo as an emerging destination and Malindo marks another important milestone of launching this new rout.

Hon. Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva, Minister of Transport, Ms. Madubhani Perera, Director Marketing SLTPB and Ms. Chami Gasnawage, Assistant Director Marketing SLTPB attended the inaugural flight launching ceremony at BIA welcoming the new flight to Sri Lanka. “We expect 15% growth in Malaysian Tourist Arrivals in 2016 which is over 25,000 tourists per year, voiced Ms. M

adubhani Perera, Director Marketing – Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau. Jetwing travels is working as the General Sales Agency (GSA) for Malindo Air. Mr. Sunil Pieris, Director Travel Services and Mr. Raju Arasaratnam, Executive Director at Jetwing Travels were also took part at the inauguration ceremony.

“Whilst it’s true that as we continue to expand, we are taking more people on more aircraft to more places, we have to continue our efforts to provide the best service for our customers,” Chief Executive Officer Chandran Rama Muthy said in a statement. He also said that Malindo Air is working very closely with Tourism Malaysia to promote a wide variety of attractions in Sri Lanka.

The carrier operates a network of scheduled passenger services throughout Malaysia, and has spread its wings to regional destinations in Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Singapore, Nepal and Australia, covering an extensive network of over 40 routes in the region.

MALAYSIA: What To Do When Nature Strikes

Malaysia has the third highest lightning density in the world.

Many may not be aware that Malaysia ranks third in the world for lightning density.

The most recent case was in September when a 15-year-old boy from Kuala Terengganu died and three others were injured when lightning struck them while they were in a goat shed.

Based on a scholarly report for Optical Transient Detector Lightning by Dr Huge J. Christian in 2003, Malaysia has 48.3 flashes/km2/yr lightning.

The country with the highest lightning density in the world is Rwanda at a place called Kamembe which has 82.7 flashes/km2/ year.

This is followed by three locations in the Republic of Congo – Boende, Lusambo, Kananga – with 66.3, 52.1 and 50.3 flashes/km2/ year respectively.

One of the main reasons these countries are at the top of the list is because they are on the equator.

The Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) revealed that the inter-monsoon periods between April to May and October has the most lightning occurrences.

Lightning is more frequent between June and September during the south-west monsoon.

There are fewer cases of lightning from December to March during the north-east monsoon.

Types of lightning and what to do

There are basically four types of lightning.

The most dangerous is the cloud-to-ground lightning.

It can kill humans, animals and damage property.

The second type is the inter-cloud lightning which is lightning from one cloud to another and it does not hit anything on the ground.

Intra-cloud lightning is the third type of lightning where the lightning takes place within the same cloud.

Then there is the cloud-to-the-sky lightning where one sees the lightning flash from the clouds.

According to MetMalaysia, clouds are formed due to the heating of the air surface.

In urban areas such as the Klang Valley, which includes Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur and Subang Jaya, there are more concrete buildings, hence the convection activities are stronger.

This causes lightning during a thunderstorm.

On the safety aspect, lightning expert Hartono Zainal Abidin said simple shelters such as huts in parks may not be installed with lightning arrestors.

However, a simple lighting protector system could protect those who seek shelter there.

He said in many cases, the copper light arrestors were stolen from the building rooftops because of its resale value.

“A simple lightning arrestor system for a gazebo would cost less than RM2,000 and it can help save lives.

“The cheaper way is to use the normal galvanised wire. It is less attractive than copper,” he said.

However, these galvanised wires may erode within five years depending on the environment.

He also advised the public not to take shelter under trees when there was lightning.

Lightning strikes the highest point and in most cases it would be a tree in the field or park.

Hartono said staying in the car would be a better option in case lightning strikes.

Changes in climate pattern

MetMalaysia revealed that in January last year, peninsular Malaysia experienced exceptionally cooler weather than usual with Kuala Krai, Kelantan having extremely low temperature of 18.5ºC, 19.0ºC, and 17.2ºC respectively on Jan 19, 21 and 22 as a result of low cloud coverage and colder wind from Siberia and Central China.

February 2014 also experienced cooler and drier weather than normal.

The lightning count in February 2014 was exceptionally low.

The water level at Sungai Selangor Dam and Klang Gate Dam, which supplies water to Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, dropped below the 50% level.

When the levels dipped further to 30% and 40%, the Selangor government implemented water rationing in March until end of April.

Some meteorological stations, such as at Langkawi and Butterworth, recorded more than 30 days without rainfall.

Singapore also experienced a record dry spell in February 2014 with it being the driest month there since 1869.

It recorded the most windy month in the last 30 years with average wind speed of 13.3km/hr and set a new record for the lowest average daily relative humidity of 74.5%.

The lower-than-normal air temperature, strong wind and dry atmosphere contributed to extremely low lightning count.

Lightning survivor

The Sportswoman of the Year award winner in 1965 and 1966, Datuk M. Rajamani, was struck by lightning while training for the Mexico Olympics at the Kuala Lumpur Police Depot at Gurney Road on March 21, 1968.

She was a track and field athlete. Rajamani shared with StarMetro her memories of the incident.

She said during one of her trainings, she saw her fellow athlete who was running in front of her being struck by lightning, and died on the spot.

At that moment, Rajamani did not know that lightning had also struck her.

She regained consciousness only after five days.

“I did not even know why I was hospitalised and no one told me. I thought it was because of a throat infection,” she said.

However, she learnt about her lightning attack from a girl who showed her a newspaper article about the incident.

“I still had no memory of the incident. I also had no memory of my boyfriend, who is now my husband.

“Somebody told me that when they asked if I remembered my boyfriend, my reply was that I thought I had seen him before,” said Rajamani.

Now, the 72-year-old spends her time with religious activities.