PUTRAJAYA: These foreign nationals would often exit Malaysia, but they would return almost immediately.
It soon dawned on the Malaysian authorities that they were up to no good.
And it eventually led to the discovery of an international scam syndicate, possibly given “protection” by some local enforcement officers, that duped foreigners with so-called investment portfolios.
Immigration Department director-general Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud said their probe began when personnel at the KL International Airport (KLIA) became suspicious of frequent “U-turn” trips by foreigners.
Their “U-turn” differed from those done by the citizens of Malaysia’s immediate neighbours, who would leave the country when their social visit passes expired and then return to Malaysia again, he said.
“Our personnel at the checkpoints immediately alerted us about this anomaly. So we started monitoring their activities,” he said.
A task force was formed with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to execute a plan.
“We observed their movements and gathered evidence for nearly three months,” Khairul Dzaimee told reporters at the MACC headquarters yesterday.
MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said enforcement officers might have been bribed in order to turn a blind eye to the activities of such international scam syndicates.
He said his personnel found during the raids several names among documents kept by the syndicate.
“We do not rule out the possibility that certain local enforcement personnel were offering protection to the syndicate.
“We don’t know yet how they were protected, but we are investigating,” he said.
MACC led a series of raids billed as Op Tropicana on Tuesday, conducted at 24 locations in Kuala Lumpur and Penang.
Immigration officers detained 23 people.
“We detained 10 suspects from the Philippines, seven from the United Kingdom and one suspect each from Indonesia, Denmark, Sweden, India, Canada and Hungary,” said Khairul Dzaimee.
They were nabbed for offences under the Immigration Act and Passport Act, he added.
Asked why the police were not involved in the joint operations, Azam explained that the case involved offences committed under the MACC Act and Immigration Act.
“The Immigration Department was the right authority as the offenders were mostly foreigners. The department has its own Special Tactical Force (Pastak) to help with the raids,” he said.
Azam said the main mastermind of the syndicate had been identified as a British man in his late 40s.
“The man has a record for scam activities, based on information received from the UK’s National Crime Agency. He is wanted in the United Kingdom.”
He said these scammers had been operating in Malaysia since 2019.
“This operation was conducted on intelligence gathered from law enforcement agencies in Australia and the United Kingdom,” he said.
The MACC, he said, had also received statements from victims, who are mostly from Australia.
“Investigations revealed the syndicate targeted victims from either Australia or the United Kingdom.
“They are believed to have raked in at least RM200mil from their activities, which started four years ago,” Azam added.
Besides Immigration and MACC, Op Tropicana also involved the Inland Revenue Board and Cyber Security Malaysia.
It led to the arrest of 81 people, including British and Philippine nationals.
