Save Raja Munirah

Bernama - 07/10/2007

KOTA TINGGI, Oct 7 (Bernama) -- Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar advised Malaysians, especially women, who wish to travel abroad to be more careful and not to help carry bags or packages belonging to other people they do not know.

He gave the advice because many Malaysian women had been arrested and jailed overseas for carrying bags or packages containing drugs.

"When travelling, take extra care. Don't simply help people who ask for help. Don't simply carry their bags when we don't know what's in them," he told reporters after hosting a breaking of fast at his residence here yesterday.

He said that if one had been found guilty by a court overseas, it would be difficult for his ministry to get them released.

He was commenting on Raja Munira Raja Iskandar Shah, 22, who was sentenced to seven years and four months' jail by a Japanese court for attempting to smuggle several packets of syabu at the Narita International Airport in Tokyo on Dec 20 last year.

Raja Munira, a mass communication student of a private college in Kuala Lumpur, alleged that she had been duped by an Iranian man she had just known.

Syed Hamid said he had ordered the Malaysian Embassy in Japan to visit the woman and gather information pertaining to the case.

-- BERNAMA