Immigration detains 8 foreigners, mastermind in document-forging syndicate

The successful operations also saw the arrest of eight foreigners involved with the syndicate, comprising six Bangladesh nationals and one each from Pakistan and Myanmar (Dr Harun) in several locations between March 9 and 23.

Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said the syndicate used a tourist agency operating in a restaurant selling Bangladesh food in Jalan Tun Tan Siew Sin, Kuala Lumpur to hide their activities from the authorities.

He said their activities included forgery of the Foreign Workers' Temporary Card (E-Card), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) card, passport, Malaysian driving licence, and the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) certificate.

"The cost for each document will depend on the type of card, between RM500 and RM3,000," he said in a press conference here today.

Mustafar said from the raids which were carried out, the department seized document-processing equipment, including a personal computer, printing machine, laminating machine and a USB thumb drive containing the templates for the documents to be forged.

"The equipment used are very sophisticated, producing almost perfect documents. However, the biometrics system (used in Malaysia) was able to detect the authenticity of the documents," he said.

He said the mastermind of the syndicate was known as 'Dr Harun' who had a document forgery laboratory in his apartment in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur.

The syndicate is believed to have used agents comprising foreigners to attract clients, operating from the Klang Valley, Perak, Kedah, Negeri Sembilan, Johor and Penang, he said.

Mustafar said that to date, the department had issued 35,000 E-Cards to illegal immigrants.

"We are targeting 400,000 to 600,000 illegal immigrants who will register in the programme which ends on June 30.

"As such, I urged employers not to delay registering their illegal workers as the Immigration Department will continue the operations to track down illegal immigrants here," he said.