Passport forgery syndicate busted with arrest of mastermind, two others

PUTRAJAYA: The Immigration Department (JIM) busted a passport forgery syndicate, which is masterminded by a Bangladeshi national, in a raid on a premises in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

In the 6.30 am operation, the JIM Intelligence and Special Operations Division personnel arrested two Bangladeshi men, aged 26 and 28, at the Kepong Commercial Park carrying packages containing 105 fake passports.

Immigration director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said it was believed that they were trying to post the passports to customers when they were arrested.

Following that, Immigration director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said they arrested the 33-year-old mastermind, known as 'Shimul', in a house used to print the fake passports.

He said an inspection of the house led to the discovery of 15 more fake passports as well as equipment like passport covers, laptops and a printer.

"In total, 120 fake passports were seized, including Indonesian, Bangladeshi and Myanmar passports.

Ruslin said the syndicate is believed to have been operating for the past year by targeting foreigners without identification documents or passports as clients.

According to him, the fake passports were sold for between RM500 and RM700 each and it is believed that they can produce five to 10 copies of passports daily.

He said the syndicate is believed to send out the fake passports using courier service and all cash transactions are done online.

He said that a preliminary investigation found that the mastermind and one of the suspects had Temporary Employment Visit Passes (PLKS) valid until 2024 while one of them had no documents on him.

"We believe there are other syndicate members involved and are tracking them down," he said.

He said all three men have been detained for 14 days at the Immigration Depot here for investigation under the Immigration Act 1959/63, the Passport Act 1966 and the Immigration Regulations 1963.

-- BERNAMA