PETALING JAYA: The Immigration Department yesterday brought down a document forgery syndicate, arresting its mastermind in the process.
Immigration director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said the department first arrested a Bangladeshi suspected of being the mastermind based on public information and intelligence.
Following interrogation, the team raided a residential building and arrested four more Bangladeshis believed to be the mastermind's assistants.
Initial checks revealed that the mastermind had overstayed his visa, while the other foreigners did not possess any valid travel documents or passes.
Immigration officers seized 29 passports suspected to be fake.
Of these, 26 were Bangladesh passports, two were Indonesian and the other was Myanmar.
Also seized were a laptop computer, a printer, and online payment receipts.
Ruslin said the syndicate, which was believed to have been operating for four months, offered services to foreigners without passports in order for them to obtain Foreign Workers Medical Examination Monitoring Agency (Fomema) documents.
The mastermind's assistants, he said, were believed to have been paid RM100 per passport to secure them.
The assistants had visited 19 Fomema panel clinics to apply using the information on the fake passports and used WhatsApp to promote their services.
The syndicate charged RM500 per service, and delivery was done via courier or by hand.
Ruslin said the department will continue to take action against any parties found to be in violation of the Immigration Act 1959/63, the Passport Act 1966, the Immigration Regulations 1963, and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 (ATIPSOM).