IMMIGRATION BUSTS PASSPORT FORGERY OPERATION WITH ARREST OF BANGLADESHI MASTERMIND

PUTRAJAYA, July 5 (Bernama) -- The Immigration Department has busted a passport forgery operation led by a Bangladeshi man who operated out of a hotel in Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur following his arrest yesterday.

Immigration director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said the Bangladeshi man, 24, who is on a valid student pass, was arrested during the special operation that began at 8.30 am.

“Based on the interrogation, an operations team raided the hotel room the suspect operated from and seized passport forging equipment, including a laptop, a printer, 37 Bangladeshi passports, two Indian passports and six Indonesian passports, all suspected to be forgeries.

“The syndicate would work individually to offer forged passports to undocumented foreigners from Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Indonesia and would use the passports to obtain documents from monitoring agencies and foreign worker medical check-ups,” he said in a statement today, adding that a fee of RM100 to RM150 was charged for each passport, with the suspect producing between 50 and 100 forgeries a day.

The suspect is now being held at the Putrajaya Immigration Depot for further investigation under the Immigration Act 1959/63, the Passport Act 1966 and the Immigration Regulations 1963.

In addition, a local man has been issued a notice to show up that the Immigration office to assist with investigations, he said.

-- BERNAMA