Pocket Knife 🇲🇾 Malaysia
Pocket Knife import prohibited
Can I bring Pocket Knife into Malaysia?
Pocket Knife import prohibited
Required at the destination customs authority
Full details
Pocket Knife import prohibited. In the reverse direction (taking pocket knife out of Malaysia): allowed — Pocket knives may be exported from Malaysia in checked baggage; carry laws at the destination govern what you may do with them on arrival.
PENALTIES
- Criminal penalty
The import order names swords, daggers, flick knives and similar weapons, which need a letter of approval from the Ministry of Home Affairs. Neither the order nor the scheduled-weapons list in Act 357 names an ordinary folding pocket knife, so we give no penalty figure for one.
WHAT THE LAW SAYS
Customs (Prohibition of Imports) Order 2023, Third Schedule Part 1 — goods prohibited except in the manner provided, item 51
“daggers, flick knife, axes, spears or”
The manner provided is a letter of approval issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
lom.agc.gov.myCorrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act 1958 (Act 357, reprint incorporating amendments up to 1 January 2006), Second Schedule, item 1
“which has a blade which opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in or attached to the handle of the knife.”lom.agc.gov.my
Penalty sources checked 2026-09-19.
Active — Customs actively enforces this rule.
Leaving Malaysia with pocket knife
A personal pocket knife faces no export formality from Malaysia when packed in checked baggage — blades of any size are prohibited from cabin baggage under aviation security rules worldwide. The practical constraints are destination-side: public-carry laws vary sharply (blade-length limits, locking-blade bans, and "good reason" requirements in countries such as the UK), and some jurisdictions treat certain knife types (automatic, gravity, butterfly) as prohibited weapons at import.
Do not bring pocket knife to this country. Penalties may be severe. If unsure, declare on arrival — declared goods at worst attract duty or surrender, while undeclared goods found in screening are seized and fined.
This page covers destination customs rules in Malaysia. Whether you can carry pocket knife through security, in carry-on, or in checked baggage depends on airline and screening rules — see air travel rules.
Related rules
Pocket Knife rules in other countries
Pocket Knife
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Folding blades under 3 inches permitted in public. Locking knives and longer blades restricted.
Pocket Knife
🇦🇺 Australia
Ordinary folding knives are not a prohibited import. Automatic, butterfly and concealed-blade knives need written import permission.
Pocket Knife
🇯🇵 Japan
Blades over 6cm prohibited under Firearms and Swords Control Law
Pocket Knife
🇸🇬 Singapore
Offensive weapons prohibited under Arms & Explosives Act
Pocket Knife
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
Bladed weapons prohibited under Federal Penal Code
Pocket Knife
🇺🇸 United States
Legal to bring; TSA prohibits in carry-on