Datuk Mahfuz Omar said there will be a special mission heading to Australia to visit convicted murderer, former corporal Sirul Azhar Umar this Sunday.

In a brief media statement, the PAS information chief said the special mission would depart the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at 11pm. The group would also include Sirul Azhar's mother, Piah Samat, 74.

Prior to their departure, a Press conference (PC) will be held at the KLIA departure hall at 9pm, he said.

Meanwhile, earlier today, members of the media were taken by surprise when a PC, supposedly to be held by Mahfuz at the PAS headquarters here, was met with a no-show by the Pokok Sena MP.

Press members had turned up at the venue as early as 10.40am, after receiving a message via WhatsApp yesterday which purportedly informed that Mahfuz will hold the PC with Piah at 11am, apparently to inform on their plans to visit Sirul Azhar.

The 'cancellation' of the PC, related to the media at 11.40am by an employee at the party headquarters, Saripuddin Mohd Yatim, left many media members dumbfounded at the venue.

Saripuddin said he had received a call from Mahfuz this morning, informing him that the latter was in fact in Alor Setar, Kedah and had no knowledge about the so-called PC.

"Mahfuz knew nothing about the Press conference. He said if there was one, he would have extended the invitation himself," Saripuddin told dejected newsmen at the venue.

Saripuddin said the message was a hoax and it did not come from any of PAS members. He also said the origin of the message has yet to be determined.

This was the second incident this week where Mahfuz had led a media frenzy. On Monday, in a room full of local and international Press, he claimed that he had managed to contact an individual claiming to be Sirul Azhar, after 15 attempts.

Mahfuz's failure to contact the convict had escalated into a joke; a video parody mocking the incident has since surfaced on social media. The 48-second video depicts Mahfuz in a scene showing him attempting to contact Sirul Azhar through a scene with a veteran actor in a black-and-white movie.

Sirul Azhar, 43, had reportedly gone to Australia last year, before the Federal Court upheld a High Court decision which found him and former Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, 38, guilty murdering Mongolian model, Altantuya Shaariibuu, in 2006.

Following the Jan 13 verdict, the Federal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sirul Azhar.

Yesterday, Australia's Immigration and Border Protection Minister, Peter Dutton, had reportedly said the Australian government would consider the application for Sirul Azhar's extradition, but it would involve a very stringent legal process as the Australian law does not recognise the death penalty that the former corporal has been sentenced to here in Malaysia.