KUALA LUMPUR: The Chinese national, who was the mastermind of the international scam syndicate nabbed last week, holds dual citizenships, says Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf (pic).
The Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director said the 34-year-old man, who was born in Henan Province, China, has citizenship of both China and Turkiye.
"He was detained holding both passports from China and Turkiye.
"We are investigating further on his crimes in other countries as well," he said when contacted on Wednesday (Feb 26).
He said the suspect, using a female syndicate member, purchased eight luxury condominiums worth RM16mil, in cash.
"We believe they facilitated payments using a money changer service.
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"While this particular syndicate member was tasked with purchasing on behalf of the leader, she also delegated the management of the payments to other lackeys," he said.
Comm Ramli said the CCID will also call up the property companies and agents who were involved in the transactions.
"We will call them up soon to assist with the investigation," he added.
Investigations showed the lower-ranking syndicate members earned monthly salaries of between RM3,000 and RM7,000, while the mastermind and his closest aides received huge proceeds from the scam activities, Comm Ramli said.
"We believe they earned much more (compared to the lower-ranking members)," he said.
It was previously reported that an international scam syndicate, targeting online gamers from China, was busted with the arrests of fourteen individuals, including its leader and mastermind.
The successful bust was conducted on Feb 19 on eight condominium units at Persiaran Stonor, which was used as the syndicate's call centres.
Various items, including cash in various denominations, luxury multi-purpose vehicles, mobile phones and luxury bags worth almost RM12mil were seized.
The syndicate hosted a bogus online gaming competition on the "WeGame" platform, where they supposedly offered lucrative prizes, including computers and luxury bags, including Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga and others.
Syndicate members are tasked with joining chat rooms and online forums before inviting players from China to join their platform.
