PETALING JAYA, Jan 16 (Bernama) -- Malindo Air wishes to affirm that one of our cabin crew was arrested on arrival at Melbourne International Airport by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) on 7th January 2019. To date however, we have not had any official communication either with our staff or from the AFP on the said detention. We had nevertheless duly raised the matter with the Malaysian Consul General’s office in Melbourne upon learning of the said detention. 

We have now learnt from the various media reports that the said cabin crew was arrested for allegedly being part of an international drug syndicate which used various airlines’ cabin crews for smuggling drugs into Australia. Malindo Air through the various media reports is also aware that cabin crew from other international carriers have since been arrested on similar charges over the last couple of months. Malindo Air stands ready to co-operate with all the relevant authorities be it in Australia or in Malaysia in this regard. The said cabin crew has also been suspended with immediate effect pending termination. As a responsible international air carrier, Malindo Air does not condone any act that is criminal in nature or misconduct by our personnel. All our flight and cabin crew are adequately trained & continuously appraised in all aspects of their conduct to comply to our stringent operating standards. 

Given all that we know to date & 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. None of the remaining Malindo Air crew on the said flight were detained. Though only into our 6th year of operations as an airline, we wish to reiterate of our commitment to continue to take all necessary steps to ensure our passengers’ safety & security at all times. Malindo Air also continues to abide by all the prevailing international regulatory standards. We are particularly proud of our record to date of meeting the stringent laws & regulatory requirements imposed by the various international authorities as well as the Australian authorities where we commenced operations since Nov 2015. 

We shall nevertheless work more closely with the relevant authorities to ensure that all our flight & cabin crew act professionally and in compliance with prevailing international norms & laws at all times.
 
Source: Malindo Air 
 
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
PR & Communications Department, Malindo Air        
Name : Andrea Liong
Head of PR & Communications                     
Tel : +603 2035 6699 ext. 1312
Email : andrea.liong@malindoair.com

--BERNAMA