Follow the procedures: Ruslin (centre) with a visitor during the customer meeting day programme at the Immigration Department in Putrajaya. – MUHAMAD SHAHRIL ROSLI/The Star
PUTRAJAYA: A Myanmar man is believed to have raked in over RM1mil selling forged documents to Bangladesh and Myanmar nationals.
The suspect is believed to have started producing the forged papers before the first movement control order was implemented in early 2020 to stop the spread of Covid-19.
The man, in his 30s, was detained following an operation on July 13.
Immigration Department director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said the suspect, known as ‘Ayake,’ was offering a host of forged papers including Myanmar passports, temporary work permits, Myanmar marriage certificates, UNHCR (refugee) cards, CIDB cards and Myanmar drivers’ licences for between RM200 and RM1,000 each.
“Checks revealed that the suspect himself holds a fake Myanmar passport. He was offering these services to Bangladesh and Myanmar nationals via WhatsApp,” he told reporters at the Immigration Department headquarters here yesterday.
He said the department monitored the man’s activities for two months before he was arrested while he was enroute to deliver some forged temporary work permits to a buyer at Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur.
“The suspect tried to flee the scene when our personnel approached him. A short pursuit occurred before he was eventually detained.
“When we checked the suspect, we found one temporary work permit sticker on him, while checks on the Honda CRV he was driving found two Myanmar passports, RM26,000 and another temporary work permit sticker,” said Ruslin.
He said the suspect then led Immigration personnel to a residential unit at Sentul where 26 UNHCR cards, two CIDB cards, three temporary work permits, eight Myanmar passports, one Myanmar driver’s licence and RM1,500 were discovered.
“The documents seized are all believed to be fake.“The suspect focused his operations on the Klang Valley area and prioritised Myanmar and Bangladeshi clientele,” he said, adding that he was believed to have made at least RM360,000 a year.
Ruslin also said that the suspect has been detained at the Putrajaya Immigration Depot while investigations continue.
