PETALING JAYA: A document forgery syndicate has been busted after a raid by the Immigration Department saw the arrest of nine foreigners.
The department said that an operation was conducted on Nov 14 in Setapak, leading to three raids in the area.
The raids were the results of an investigation into the group following public complaints.
Two suspected "masterminds" of the group were caught in addition to six more suspects.
The masterminds, both Pakistani men, were aged 27 and 55 years old whereas the other suspects who were both Indian and Pakistani, were aged between 21 and 55 years old.
"Questioning towards both masterminds led the operation team to a residence where 161 passports of various origin were seized," the department said in a statement.
Of the 161 passports seized, 74 were from Bangladesh, with 33 from Pakistan.
An Iraqi and a Thai passport were also found during the raid.
One of the two masterminds had a still valid temporary working pass whereas the other had no valid documentation.
"The modus operandi of the syndicate includes offering passports to foreigners that do not have travel documents. They would use genuine passports or those that have expired and transfer its biodata information to their clients to obtain Fomema (Foreign Workers’ Medical Examination Monitoring Agency) health examinations.
"The syndicate would charge around RM200 per transaction and is believed to have been in operation for six months," it said.
In addition to the arrests, the department has also summoned two local women and a UNHCR card holder to present themselves to the department for further investigations.
