PADANG BESAR: Dozens of transport lorries are stranded at the Malaysia - Thailand border crossing in Padang Besar following the Movement Control Order (MCO) which was implemented at midnight.
Lorry driver Mat Sabu Ismail, 46, said he and two friends were not allowed to pass through the border crossing after midnight, as authorities enforced the MCO to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 infection.
He described how his counterpart left his lorry at the Thailand border last night and walked across into Malaysia after authorities refused to allow his Thai registered vehicle to enter Malaysia.
“The company where we work transports dry goods as well as fast food items across the border of both nations. We are used to the process involved in the entry and exit of the two countries.
"However, since the MCO was implemented from midnight we have been barred from entering the neighbouring country and the goods we are carrying are wet goods and easily perishable.
“Our customers collected their invoice last week and are awaiting for their goods to be delivered in Thailand,” he lamented at the Padang Besar border crossing here today.
Chah Wai Kut, 50, and his assistants had to drive a truckload of construction material back to the federal capital even though they had just arrived at the border crossing about 4am.
“There is nothing to do because the shipping process can only be done after the MCO expires.
"So, I and my friends decided to go back to Cheras, as we felt it would not be worthwhile waiting it out here,” he said.
A check by the New Straits Times at the Malaysia-Thailand border found that dozens of transport lorries were parked along the road shoulders headed towards the border crossing.
The atmosphere at the Padang Besar Immigration, Customs, Quarantine and Security Complex (ICQS) was also quiet especially in the tourist and vehicle entry areas.
However, things perked up for an hour at 10am when some 500 Thai nationals lined up in the pedestrian border crossing as they decided to return home.
Thai citizen Gathale Morak, 28, said he wanted to return to Pattani to visit his brother as the Covid-19 situation was quite alarming.
He said he had been in Malaysia for over two weeks and decided to return home until the situation becomes normal.
