Penang immigration director Nur Zulfa Ibrahim said the teen, who claimed he was 10, was accompanied by a Malaysian woman who said she was his mother.

The supervisor on duty noticed that the teen did not possess the physical appearance of a typical 10-year-old, and that he struggled to understand the questions asked by the immigration officers.

“When the head of the office conducted a check, it was discovered that the teenager could not speak Malay.

“Further questioning found that his speech did not correspond with the Tamil dialect used by the Indian community here,” Zulfa said in a statement.

She said the woman then admitted that she was not the teenager’s mother.

The woman also revealed that she was paid a sum of money for her involvement, while the teenager confessed that he was a Sri Lankan national.

Both were detained under the Passport Act 1966 for investigation and further action by the department.