KUALA LUMPUR: The Immigration Department has uncovered a group of foreigners believed to have given their children cough syrup to make them drowsy in order to gain sympathy while begging.
The syndicate, believed to be led by a Pakistani man, forced the children to follow adults to beg for money on the streets in Kuala Lumpur including Jalan Chow Kit, Masjid India dan Jalan Sentul.
The syndicate was uncovered following a raid by the Kuala Lumpur Immigration Department at a shoplot at Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah on Tuesday night.
At first glance, the shoplot housed a laundromat, barber shop and mobile phone shop but these are just a front for the syndicate's main operation which was falsifying passports.
Checks at one of the upper floors of the building showed "pigeon-hole" rooms where eight tenants were paying at least RM800 monthly.
The tenants comprised the syndicate's panhandlers, among others.
During the raid, a bottle of cough syrup was found along with a box which was believed to be used to keep the panhandling money.
Kuala Lumpur Immigration Department director Wan Mohammed Saupee Wan Yusoff said the raid was carried out following a tip-off.
"We carried out surveillance on the location for about six months before raiding the building.
"We detained 79 foreigners for various offences during the raid."
Among those detained were 44 Pakistani men, 22 Pakistani women, an Indonesian woman, an Indian woman and seven children.
He said that those detained were taken to the Kuala Lumpur Immigration Department for documentation and further investigations.