PUTRAJAYA: The Immigration Department yesterday crippled a year-old fake passport syndicate masterminded by Bangladeshis, arresting three foreigners and seizing 121 forged travel documents of various countries.
Immigration director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said his officers first arrested two Bangladeshi men who were about to deliver a package to someone in the Kepong Commercial Park.
They were detained about 6.30am during a special operation dubbed Op Vista Mutiara.
"One of the men had a temporary work visit pass (PLKS), while the other had no travel documents. Both men are believed to have played significant roles within the syndicate.
"(From the men), we seized 61 fake Bangladeshi passports, 43 fake Indonesian passports, and a fake Myanmar passport," he told reporters.
The men's arrests then led to a raid at a house in Jalan Kepong, where the main suspect, believed to be the one producing the forged documents, was arrested.
Ruslin said the man, a 33-year-old Bangladeshi named Shimul, had a PLKS which was valid till June next year.
He said the raiding party seized a further 15 forged Bangladeshi passports, a forged Indonesian passport, two laptop computers and two printers from the man's house.
"The modus operandi of this syndicate was to target foreigners such as Bangladeshis, Myanmars, Indonesians, Indians, Nepalis and Pakistanis without passports or identification documents.
"The syndicate would identify and approach those in trouble, then offer their services," he said, saying that the syndicate's "marketing" method was only through word of mouth.
He said the syndicate was believed to have been operating for about a year, charging between RM500 and RM700 for each forged passport, adding that they were believed to have been capable of producing five to 10 passports a day.
Asked if the department expected to make more arrests, Ruslin said that his team will continue to investigate to find out more about the syndicate.
"We believe that the real leader (the mastermind) is yet to be identified and we hope with the help of the ones that we have caught, we can find out more (about the syndicate)," he added.
Ruslin said the men were being detained on suspicion of violating the Immigration Act 1959/63, Passport Act 1966, and Immigration Regulations 1963, and are being held at the Immigration Depot in Putrajaya for further investigation.