KUALA LUMPUR: Ten Bangladeshi men, most of whom entered the country to work in the construction and service sectors, ended up preying on their own nationals in a medical scam.
For about a year, they offered the unsuspecting workers “medical services” using Bangladeshis as bogus doctors, with unapproved drugs from their country.
The suspects used Bangladeshis headed here as tourists to bring in medicines, paying them up to RM500 each to do so, and charged the workers between RM50 and RM200 for the bogus services.
Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban, who disclosed this yesterday, said medical equipment and 502 types of medicines were seized from the syndicate following raids in the city.
The raids conducted jointly with the Health Ministry on Thursday were focused on Jalan Tun Tan Siew Sin, Leboh Pudu and Jalan Silang.
“We conducted surveillance for about two weeks before the raids. The medicines were valued at RM265,192,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Zakaria said investigations revealed that the suspects offered the bogus services only to their nationals.
“The medicines did not have the approval of our Health Ministry. The suspects operated in restaurants and sundry shops to evade detection,” he added.
Caught red-handed: One of the men being detained by the Immigration Department.
Zakaria said of the 10 men, one had a temporary work permit for the service sector and six for construction, while two had overstayed and the other was undocumented. He said the probe was being conducted under Section 13(a) of the Poisons Act 1952 along with immigration offences.
“All suspects were brought to the Immigration headquarters in Putrajaya. We have also issued notices to two Bangladeshi men and six Malaysian women to assist with the investigation,” he added.
In another case, police rescued three Bangladeshi men who were victims of forced labour, following raids on a furniture and a recycling centre in Damansara.
Bukit Aman said the victims were believed to have been beaten and threatened as well.
The raids were conducted by the CID Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (Atipsom) division (D3) at about 2.30pm on Thursday.
CID D3 principal assistant director Senior Asst Comm Soffian Santong said the victims, aged between 28 and 35, were rescued in accordance with Section 44(1) of the Atipsom Act 2007.
“The victims have worked in the factory for between one and five years. They claimed they were beaten, threatened and not paid salaries and lived in poor conditions,” he said when contacted.SAC Soffian said 29 persons aged between 26 and 48 were also detained for various offences.
“Two men from Bangladesh and India were identified as managers of the two outlets. Also detained were suspects from Pakistan and Myanmar,” he added.Separately, the Kuala Lumpur Immigration Department detained 38 foreigners in an operation codenamed Ops Sapu KL Strike Force at a settlement in Kampung Baru yesterday.
Its director Wan Mohammed Saupee Wan Yusoff said the 36 Indonesians and two Thais did not have valid travel documents or had overstayed.
