THE National Registration Department (NRD) has proposed that DNA information be included in birth certificates to enhance its security, said Muhyiddin Yassin.

The home minister said in a statement today that the NRD has also put a stop to late-birth registrations at state NRD offices with immediate effect.

“Late registration can only be performed at the NRD headquarters in Putrajaya to increase security (and it was proposed that) DNA information be incorporated in birth certificates,” the minister said after a meeting by the committee to improve the NRD delivery system.

Muhyiddin said the NRD would also rotate its officers every two years and perform frequent spot checks on its divisions, as well as review unclaimed birth certificates.

“The NRD will remove unclaimed birth certificates from the NRD system to avoid them being misused,” he said.

On August 19, 20 people, aged between 32 and 70, including a state NRD assistant director, were arrested by police in a special operation to stem the sale of identification documents to Chinese nationals.

Also detained were 17 locals, two Chinese nationals and an Indian national.

The suspects acted as agents, middlemen, sponsors and holders of fake birth certificates, MyKads and passports.

Investigations revealed that the syndicate’s agents would charge foreigners seeking citizenship between RM100,000 and RM600,000 for the documents.

They have been remanded for 28 days and are being investigated under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma).

Last week, six people, including the state NRD assistant director, were charged with 32 counts for various offences over the selling of MyKads to foreigners. – September 22, 2019.