KUANTAN: As low as RM200; that was the price paid by some illegal immigrants for a fake MyKad.
This was revealed during an integrated operation between the state Immigration Department and the National Registration Department (NRD) held near Balok, early today.
In the 1am operation, some illegal immigrants were nabbed at their rented house and found in possession of fake MyKad.
They claimed to have bought the fake MyKad from a few syndicates operating in Kuala Lumpur, Perak and Sabah.
One of them, a man who hailed from Mindanao, had bought a fake MyKad for RM300 from a syndicate in Perak.
He said with the fake MyKad, he managed to get a job as a labourer in Gebeng.
Further inspection by NRD found the MyKad data belongs to a man from Tuaran, Sabah.
During the five-hour operation, about 70 illegal immigrants from Southern Philippines were nabbed.
State Immigration Department director Zamree Ramli said apart from possessing fake MyKad, some illegal immigrants also had no travel document and had overstayed.
"We investigated them under Section 6(1)(c) and Section 15(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1952.
"This case also will be investigated by NRD to nab the mastermind of the MyKad forgery syndicates," he said.
He said all of the detainees will be held at the department’s lockup for further investigation before being sent to Ajil Detention centre.
Also present in the operation was NRD deputy director (operation) Mohd Yazid Ramli.
A total of 69 NRD and Immigration Department enforcement officers were involved in the operation.