JOHOR BARU: The Johor Immigration Department has dismantled two syndicates involved in the illegal supply of foreign workers to factories and the construction sector following a series of raids here.
Its director Datuk Mohd Rusdi Mohd Darus said more than 80 foreign passports were also seized during the operation in the Pandan industrial area, Taman Setia Tropika and Taman Kempas Utama between from June 4 to Tuesday (June 9).
"We found that there are companies that had their foreign worker quotas approved but were not employing approved workers at the registered businesses.
"Instead, these workers with valid Temporary Employment Visit Passes (PLKS) were hired out to other employers involved in different business activities.
"Early investigations found that employers were charged RM25,000 per worker, which includes travel expenses to Malaysia from their home countries," he said in a statement on Wednesday (June 10).
He said one syndicate was believed to have supplied some 500 workers and generated profits of about RM225,000 per month from the activity.
"Raids on a foreign worker management agency office in Taman Setia Tropika and two apartment units in Taman Kempas Utama resulted in the arrest of two agents and four foreign workers who had overstayed.
"During the operation, we also seized 48 Bangladeshi passports, RM4,300 in cash and two vehicles used by the syndicate," he said, adding that the suspects were aged between 24 and 42.
He added that another syndicate was exposed in a raid on a foreign worker management office in Pandan, where a 33-year-old Bangladeshi man was arrested.
"The man, believed to be an agent, had also overstayed in Malaysia.
"A total of 36 Bangladeshi and Indian passports, as well as RM5,000 in cash believed to be proceeds from the agency’s operations, were also seized during the operation," he added.
He said the suspects are being investigated under Sections 15(1)(c), 56(1)(d) and 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63, as well as Section 12(1)(f) of the Passport Act 1966.
