M’sian immigration officers return to S’porean owner bag containing S$4,700 that fell out of car at BSI

MALAYSIA/SINGAPORE: Unbeknownst to a couple who had attended a wedding in Johor Bahru last month, one of their bags fell out of their car as they went through the customs complex on their way home.

The bag, which belongs to Singaporean interior designer Tan Zheng Guang, contained S$4,700 in cash, as well as bank cards and important documents.

Thirty-six-year-old Mr Tan and his wife had stayed in Johor Bahru from Nov 3 to 5, and were en route to Singapore around midnight when they passed through the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex (BSI), according to a report in The Star.

He told the Malaysian daily that he was unaware that the bag had fallen out when the door of the car was opened as it underwent inspection at BSI. The couple was already tired at the time, he added, and only realised when they arrived at their home that the bag, with all its important contents, was not among their belongings.

In their efforts to find it, the couple reached out to the hotel to ask whether they had left their bag there, but learned that it wasn’t.

Like everyone who loses their bank cards, he immediately cancelled them, although he held back from filing an official report, as he told The Star that he had a feeling that his bag was not lost for good. As it turns out, luck was fully on his side, because two Malaysian immigration officers found it and were determined to track its owner, reaching out to the consulate in Johor Bahru in order to do so.

“It was a pleasant surprise when I got a call from our consulate general’s office that the Malaysian Immigration found my bag,” Mr Tan told The Star.

At first, however, he thought that it was a scam call, but quickly realised that his bag had been found when he was sent a photo of his identity card.

On Nov 21, Mr Tan went back to Johor Bahru to get his bag back and made it a point to thank the immigration officers who found it in person.

“Everything was accounted for, and I am grateful to them for their honesty and professionalism in trying to locate me through our consulate,” he is quoted as saying.

When the men found the bag in a lane at BSI, they looked at the CCTV footage from the time that Mr Tan and his wife went through in their car in order to determine the identity of its owners. They then informed their superiors of their discovery, who in turn reached out to the consulate general’s office so that Mr Tan could be alerted. The officers have been commended by Malaysia’s Home Ministry. /TISG

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