KUALA LUMPUR: Two foreigners, an Indian and Bangladeshi man are believed to have been operating a syndicate specialising in forged documents.
The syndicate offered forged passports, Temporary Work Visit Passes and Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) cards for between RM500 and RM1,000.
Immigration Department director general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said a special operation was launched on Wednesday (Feb 14) to cripple the syndicate.
"The operation started at 2pm involving a team of officers and members of various ranks from the Intelligence and Special Operations Division and Special Tactical Force (PASTAK).
"These teams raided two premises at Petaling Jaya and Jalan Alor, Kuala Lumpur and arrested an Indian national and Bangladeshi national aged 28 and 31," he said in a statement on Thursday (Feb 15).
He said the two suspects are believed to have masterminded the entire operation.
"Both suspects did not own valid passports.
"We also detained two other Bangladeshi men aged 28, believed to be members of the syndicate," he said, adding that one of the suspects did not have a valid passport while the other overstayed.
He said they confiscated four copies of Indian passports belonging to other people, duplicative Indian passport suspected to be fake, a copy of a Pakistani passport belonging to someone else, a copy of a Pakistani passport suspected to be fake, a copy of a Bangladesh passport, 26 Temporary Work Visit Passes (PLKS) suspected to be fake, two pieces of CIDB cards suspected to be fake, two laptops and a printer.
"The syndicate's modus operandi is to target clients from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan who have problems in Malaysia such as lack of documents and visas.
"The suspects would approach those who have this problem and then offer their forgery services," he said, adding that the syndicate is believed to have been operating for one year.
He said they charged around RM1,000 for each passport copy, and RM500 for Temporary Work Visit Pasess and CIDB cards.
"The suspects have been detained at the Putrajaya Immigration Depot for further investigations.
"The department will continue to take strict action against any party found to commit an offense under the Immigration Act 1959/63, the Passport Act 1966, the Immigration Regulations of 1963 and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 (ATIPSOM)," he said.
