PUTRAJAYA: The Immigration Department has dismantled an illegal agent syndicate involved in providing travel papers, visas and passes to foreigners with the arrest of 13 individuals.
Those detained were 11 Bangladeshi men, an Indian national and a local woman, who is believed to be a company proprietor.
A total of 530 passports, computer desktops, a laptop, printers, company stamps and other items were also seized by the authorities.
Immigration Deputy Director-General (Operations) Jafri Embok Taha said the arrests were made during a special operation at 2.30pm yesterday based on intelligence gathered over the past two weeks.
Immigration department officers arrested the 13 individuals at four different locations in Kuala Lumpur, including Bandar Menjalara, Jalan Medan Tuanku, Jalan Tiong Nam and Jalan Cheras.
"A Malaysian woman, believed to be the owner of the company, was also arrested," he said at a press conference, adding that those arrested were aged between 33 and 53 years old.
Initial checks revealed that three Bangladeshi men and one Indian man had valid passes, while two Bangladeshi men had overstayed their visas. The remaining foreign nationals did not possess any valid travel documents.
Jafri added that the syndicate's modus operandi involved offering a range of services related to the issuing of illegal passports and passes to foreign nationals.
"These services included Social Visit Passes (PLS), Visitor's Pass (Temporary Employment), the Labour Recalibration Programme 2.0 (RTK) and visas. For each service, the syndicate would charge a fee of RM500.
"The syndicate is believed to have been operating for a year," he said.
All the foreign nationals were detained at the Bukit Jalil Immigration Depot for further investigation on suspicion of offences under Section 6(3) and 15(4) of the Immigration Act 1959/1963, Section 12(1)(f) of the Passport Act 1966, and Article 39(b) of the Immigration Regulations 1963.
The local woman was arrested on suspicion of offences under Section 55E of the Immigration Act 1959/1963 and Section 12(1)(f) of the Passport Act 1966. Another six local women were issued notices to report to the office to assist in the investigation.
Jafri said during the operation, officers seized 530 passports from various countries, including 414 Bangladeshi passports, 57 Indian passports, 36 Indonesian passports, nine Myanmar passports, seven Pakistani passports, four Sri Lankan passports, one Filipino passport, one Nepali passport and a Malaysian passport.
"We also seized five computer desktops, one laptop, two CCTV decoders, two printers, 14 company stamps, business cards, CIDB registration cards, three birth certificates from the National Registration Department and RM13,900 in cash," he said.
Jafri warned that the department would take stern action against any parties found to have committed offences under the Immigration Act 1959/1963, the Passport Act 1966, the Immigration Regulations 1963, and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007.