JOHOR BARU, June 26 — Thirty-seven people including a  Singaporean, were arrested while trying to sneak out of the country using a shortcut, which is an ungazetted route through the Singapore-Johor Baru railway tracks near here, early today.

State Immigration director-general Rohaizi Sahar said those arrested consisted of 35 Malaysian men, one Singaporean man and a Malaysian woman, all of whom aged in their 40’s.

He said in a statement here today that the investigations done on the 37 individuals found they had erred by not going through the designated Malaysian Immigration checkpoint.

Rohaizi said those who were arrested gave the excuse that they were trying to get into Singapore quickly, avoiding the long lines and traffic congestions at checkpoints that begin as early as 5am.

He said they entered the railway tracks through Johor Baru Sentral, and then followed the tracks right up to the Singapore border.

After that, they climbed over the fence and walked into Singapore as usual at the Johor Causeway, he added.

All of them are currently being detained at Bangunan Sultan Iskandar for further investigation.

“We will continue to monitor, so that such incidents do not happen again,” he said.

Recently, a local newspaper reported that some locals working in Singapore used a shortcut into Singapore via the railway tracks at Johor Baru, especially in the early hours of the day, which is said to shorten the journey time to 15-20 minutes, compared to 45 minutes if they were to go through inspections at the Malaysian Immigration. — Bernama