PUTRAJAYA: A migrant smuggling syndicate known as “Iqbal” was crippled following a raid by a team of immigration officers on a safe house, says Datuk Zakaria Shaaban.
The Immigration Department director-general said the raid led to the arrests of 12 Bangladeshi nationals, comprising 11 men and a woman, aged 18 to 54, and a 27-year-old Rohingya man from Myanmar who acted as the premises’ caretaker.
“The safe house was located in a remote village, as a tactic to evade the authorities.
“It was used as a transit to house migrants who were recently smuggled into the country,” he said in a statement yesterday, Bernama reported.
The raid, he added, was led by a special team from the department’s Prevention Division based at its headquarters in Putrajaya, in coordination with Kelantan’s Immigration Enforcement Division.
Based on initial investigations, Zakaria said the illegal migrants had been in the country for three days prior to their detention after entering through unauthorised access points along the Malaysia-Thailand border.
The illegal migrants were taken to a temporary safe house to settle outstanding entry fees before being transported to their final destinations.
“We are tracking the local owner of the premises, who is believed to have colluded with the syndicate by renting it out for migrant smuggling activities,” he said, adding that the case was being investigated under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act.
He said the syndicate was believed to have been active since early 2024, operating through a network of agents from the migrants’ countries of origin.
“The main mastermind is believed to be a Bangladeshi national known as ‘Iqbal’ who is operating from Thailand,” said Zakaria.
He said that the syndicate was believed to have raked in about RM1.5mil from its activities, charging migrants between RM10,000 and RM15,000 to enter the country illegally.
Zakaria added that the enforcement operations was carried out in accordance with the National Guideline on Human Trafficking Indicators which focuses on systematic screening by trained personnel to identify victims among vulnerable groups and distinguish trafficking victims from smuggled migrants.
