PUTRAJAYA: Seven people, including three foreigners, were arrested for alleged involvement in a syndicate that forged immigration security stamps.
Revealing this, Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said the suspects comprised three Malaysian men and a woman, and three Vietnamese women aged between 20 and 35.
He said intelligence and surveillance showed that two males boarded a bus from the Larkin Bus Terminal in Johor Baru to head to Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS) in Kuala Lumpur.
“Acting on the information, a team of officers was deployed to the area and managed to track the suspects’ movements near TBS.
“The team tailed them to a residential area in Seri Kembangan, Selangor, believed to be the group’s hideout, and arrested them upon arrival,” he said in a statement yesterday, Bernama reported.
A search at the premises resulted in eight Vietnamese passports and two suspected fake immigration security stamps being seized.
Zakaria said the syndicate was believed to have been operating for about two years, targeting Vietnamese, Indonesian and Thai nationals who wanted to prolong their stay in Malaysia.
“These individuals would use the syndicate service to obtain immigration endorsements, unaware that they were fake.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that each document was charged between RM2,500 and RM3,000,” he said.
Zakaria said the suspects, who were arrested on Monday, were being investigated under the Immigration Act 1959/63 and Passport Act 1966.
The foreigners were taken to the Putrajaya Immigration Depot for further action, he added.
