IPOH: Police busted a syndicate specialising in forging official government documents following the arrest of five individuals in Ipoh, Kuala Kangsar and Taiping.
Its members, who include a post office clerk, a teacher and a man who has been using a ‘Datuk Seri Panglima’ title, were arrested on Friday and Sunday.
State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief Datuk Gan Tian Kee said their cover was blown when police conducted a month of surveillance and raided a house in Taman Maju Rapat here on Friday.
"We nabbed a 43-year-old man (who is thought to be the leader). Following the arrest, another suspect, a ‘Datuk Seri Panglima’, was nabbed and his three luxury vehicles – a Mercedes Benz, BMW and Toyota Alphard – were seized. We believe the vehicles are clones.
"The other three people, (including a married couple), were detained in Padang Rengas, Kuala Kangsar and in Pokok Assam in Taiping," Gan said during a press conference at the State police contingent headquarters today.
He added that the house was used as their operations centre to process documents such as MyKad, driving licenses, passports, vehicle road tax certificates and government hospital medical certificates (MCs).
Gan revealed that the syndicate, which has been operating for over a year, is dubbed 'Gang Tuah' and has its own networking MO to find customers.
"The customers can get their own MyKad with their names on it. The same goes for other documents, including vehicle road tax.
"(The customers are) charged according to what documents they want. The price ranges from hundreds to thousands of ringgit. We are still in the midst of investigating it," he added.
Gan said police also seized a desktop computer, a laptop, 20 modified MyKads, 31 modified driving licenses, two fake identity cards, two memory cards, six fake driving licenses, two thumb drives containing software for forging documents, a government hospital MC booklet, two original vehicle road taxes, three sheets of SSM documents and other tools used to forge the documents.
"We believe (they operated) with the help or involvement of government officers. How can they get the originals of government documents if they do not have connections with them? We have identified other members who are at large.
"This is a serious issue, as foreigners can also own a MyKad from this syndicate," he said.
Gan added that the detainees, aged between 37 and 49, have been remanded to facilitate investigations under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property.