Fomema Document Forgery Syndicate Busted, Five Bangladeshis Nabbed

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 29 (Bernama) -- The Immigration Department busted a syndicate forging Foreign Workers Medical Examination Monitoring Agency (FOMEMA) documents following the arrest of five Bangladeshi nationals in Petaling Jaya yesterday.

Immigration Department director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said that following the arrest of a Bangladeshi man suspected to be the syndicate's mastermind, they raided residential premises and caught four other Bangladeshis believed to be his assistants.

He said the syndicate would offer foreign nationals without passports the opportunity to obtain the documents with the help of these assistants for RM100 per passport, who would then visit FOMEMA panel clinics to apply for the papers using fake passports.

Ruslin said the accomplices had visited different panel clinics 19 times.

"Checks revealed that the mastermind had overstayed and the others did not possess valid travel documents to be in the country," he said in a statement today.

Ruslin said the syndicate, believed to have been active for about four months, used the WhatsApp application to promote their services, charging RM500 for each service.

He said the mastermind was being detained under Section 15(4) of the Immigration Act 1959/63, Section 12(1)(a) and Section 12(1)(f) of the Passports Act 1966, and the four other men were being held under Section 6(3) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 and Section 12(1)(a) of the Passports Act 1966.

"All of them are being detained at the Putrajaya Immigration Depot for further investigation and a local man has been issued a notice to report to the immigration office to assist with the investigation," he added.

-- BERNAMA