KUALA LUMPUR: Fourteen Chinese nationals and a local man have been detained by the Immigration Department for various offences here.
In the first case, three Chinese nationals were detained for using fake passes as supporting documents to obtain entry visas to the United States.
Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said the arrests were made following intelligence gathering and an enforcement operation conducted on Wednesday (April 1).
"A team from the enforcement division detained one man and two women, aged from 25 to 54, for possessing social visit passes believed to be fake.
"We also seized three Chinese passports with Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) stickers, which are suspected to be fake," he said in a statement on Thursday (April 2).
He said the arrests were a follow-up to a related case on Oct 8, 2025, when six Chinese nationals and two local men from a syndicate were detained.
"Investigations revealed that the syndicate supplies counterfeit long-term immigration passes for up to RM10,000 each, to be used as supporting documents in visa applications to the United States," he said.
All three suspects were brought to the Putrajaya Immigration Depot under Section 51(5)(b) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 for further investigations. They are being investigated for offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63, the Passport Act 1966 and the Immigration Regulations 1963.
In the second case, Zakaria said they detained 11 Chinese nationals for abusing social visit and employment passes in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.
"In raids were conducted at four retail outlets and restaurants in Dengkil on March 31, five Chinese nationals were arrested for operating businesses and working without valid permits.
"All entered the country as tourists using social visit passes," he said.
Another raid in Kepong led to the arrest of six Chinese women working as masseuses, he said.
"A Malaysian man, believed to be the employer, was also detained," he said.
