IMMIGRATION DEPT BUSTS FAKE SECURITY STAMP SYNDICATE, SEVEN NABBED

PUTRAJAYA, Nov 11 (Bernama) -- Seven individuals, including three foreigners, were arrested yesterday during Ops Serkap for their alleged involvement in a syndicate that forged immigration security stamps.

Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said they comprised three Malaysian men, one Malaysian woman, and three Vietnamese women aged between 20 and 35.

He said intelligence and surveillance revealed that two male suspects had boarded a bus from the Larkin Bus Terminal in Johor Bahru around midnight, heading to the 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 then 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 today.

A search of the premises uncovered eight Vietnamese passports and two suspected fake immigration security stamps.

Zakaria said the syndicate is 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 the endorsements were fake.

“Preliminary investigations revealed that each transaction was charged between RM2,500 and RM3,000 per document,” he said.

Zakaria said all the suspects were being investigated under the Immigration Act 1959/63 and the Passport Act 1966, while the foreign nationals were taken to the Putrajaya Immigration Depot for further action.

-- BERNAMA