KUALA LUMPUR: Eleven people including four enforcement officers have been remanded over their suspected involvement in a syndicate which smuggled foreigners into the country.
This comes after the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission dismantled the syndicate with the arrests of 12 people during Op Pump yesterday.
According to a source, the enforcement officers, all men, are attached to a government agency serving KLIA Terminal 2.
Three of them have been remanded for five days, while another has been remanded for three days.
Aside from the enforcement officers, four company owners, comprising two men and two women, have been remanded between four and five days.
Two civilians, a man and a woman who are believed to be representatives of the syndicate were remanded for five days while a company manager, a man, was remanded for four days.
All those remanded are aged between 20 and 50.
"This syndicate is believed to have colluded with several agency enforcement officers who arranged 'special counters' for certain groups of foreigners arriving by flights over several years.
"The 'special counters' allowed foreigners to enter the country without being inspected as per the Immigration Department's procedures."
The source also said that MACC seized several passports belonging to Pakistani and Indonesian nationals, 13 mobile phones, jewellery, gold, and cash amounting to over RM40,000.
When contacted, MACC's intelligence director Datuk Zainul Darus, confirmed the arrests.
The case is being investigated under Section 16 of the MACC Act for the acceptance and offering of bribes.