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Three Singaporean men were allegedly detained for seven days in Johor and fined RM3,000 (S$942) each after their passports were found to be missing records of their entries into Malaysia, Shin Min Daily News (SMDN) reported.

The father of one of the men, who declined to reveal his name, told SMDN that his son, together with four friends, had driven into Johor Bahru via Woodlands Checkpoint at around 11am on May 7.

The group of men, whose ages range from 25 to 27,  then toured around Johor and Kuala Lumpur for approximately five days.

At the end of their trip, one of the men decided to fly back to Singapore from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, while the other four men proceeded to drive back to Singapore from Johor Bahru.

While the former had no problem getting through immigration, the same could not be said for the other four men, who encountered a snag at the Johor checkpoint.

Detained and handcuffed

According to the father, when they tried driving back to Singapore at around 4pm on May 11, they were stopped by an officer at the customs booth, who pointed out that their passports had no record of them entering Malaysia as they were not stamped.

The father received a call then from his son, who was shocked at the turn of events, and was desperately trying to get help.

The father immediately called the Singapore Consulate-General in Johor Bahru for assistance, and was finally able to see his son two days later on May 13.

He mentioned that he was sad to see his son in handcuffs when they met.

Had not checked passports to see if they were stamped

The father told SMDN that one of the four men was a Malaysian, and so he was allowed to go back to his home in Johor Bahru before coming back to the checkpoint to record a statement on May 16.

His son, along with the other two men, who were Singapore permanent residents, were then detained for seven days and fined RM3,000 (S$942) each.

They were eventually released on May 17.

The father produced a ticket received by his son, which indicated that he was detained for illegal immigration under Section 6(1)(c) of the Malaysian Immigration Act 1959/63.

The son told SMDN that they had tried explaining matters to the customs officer, but to no avail.

"When we entered Johor through the checkpoint and got our passports back from the officer, we did not check to see if they were stamped," he said.

Previously, a Singaporean family of six claimed they were asked for "kopi money" after they were accused of "illegal immigration" for their passports were not stamped by the customs officer.

In response, Johor Chief Minister Onn Hafiz Ghazi said he will "get the necessary authorities to investigate" the matter.

Top image by Sotong Goh via Woodland Checkpoint/Facebook