KEY POINTS:
A Malaysian visitor says she never wants to visit New Zealand again after "a terrifying two-hour interrogation" by a customs officer at Auckland Airport on Monday.
Cho Fun (Joyce) Chua is here for five days to visit her brother and his family in New Lynn.
She said a
female customs officer accused her of lying about her age, claimed her brother was no longer in the country and threatened to have her jailed after a machine indicated that she had the drug Ecstasy in her handbag. No trace of the drug was found.
"My co-operation and good faith was met with rude disrespect and nasty terrorising," Ms Chua said.
Her brother, Frederick Chua, 32, his wife Jaime Goh, 30, and their son Nicholas, 5, moved to New Zealand in January. Ms Goh had earlier studied here for six years and has permanent residence.
The couple met when both were studying at Auckland University and returned to Malaysia after they graduated. Ms Goh is now working as an administrator. Mr Chua is the finance and administration manager for a construction company in Kingsland and is applying for permanent residence.
Ms Chua, a Kuala Lumpur sharebroker, brought presents for the family, including two packets of dried meat, a rice cooker and two "huge bags" of toys for her nephew.
She said that when she arrived at Auckland Airport, the officer asked "a lot of questions" about her visit, asking how she paid for her ticket and why she was visiting for only five days.
"I said I'm old enough to purchase a ticket for myself," she said.
As to her short visit, she replied, "Why not? What's the matter?"
She then went to the "goods to declare" counter to declare the dried meat in her baggage, and the same officer searched her baggage "very thoroughly" and confiscated one of the packets of dried meat.
The officer showed her a printed document stating that Ecstasy had been detected in her handbag.
"Even though she did not find any Ecstasy after a thorough search, she still insisted the drug was not found in the contents of my bag but was actually contained in the materials of the bag itself," Ms Chua said.
"I told her that to prove my innocence she could burn my bag or do whatever she wanted with it."
Ms Chua said the officer accused her of lying about her age because she looked younger than the age in her passport. She declined to tell the Herald her age but said it was "30-plus".
The officer also checked in the computer system and said that Ms Chua's brother was no longer in the country. Mr Chua was waiting at the airport and rang his sister's cellphone repeatedly during her interrogation, but Ms Chua was not allowed to speak to him and the customs officer refused to speak to him.
Finally, the officer brought in a superior, who asked Ms Chua questions about the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange and was satisfied with her answers. She was then allowed to go.
"It was mental torture," she said. "Maybe when I go back I will need to see a psychiatrist because of this.
"I love my brother and nephew very much and I was planning on visiting them twice a year in future, but after the two hours of terrorising this customs officer subjected me to, she has turned me off from travelling to New Zealand again."
Customs group manager for airports Roger Smith declined to discuss Ms Chua's case, but said the service took complaints "very seriously".
"In this case the matter is being investigated and customs has already advised the traveller that we will be in touch as soon as possible," he said.
"We expect customs officers to treat all people with the respect they deserve and have provided training to deal with people from all walks of life. For some, questioning or search activity can appear intrusive, but there is no intent on any customs officer's part to offend any traveller."
Ecstasy agony
* Malaysian visitor Cho Fun Chua was stopped by customs officers after a machine indicated she had Ecstasy in her handbag.
* Officers searched the bag but found no trace of the drug.
* Ms Chua says she was interrogated for two hours, accused of lying and not allowed to speak to her family.
