PUTRAJAYA, Aug 7 — The Immigration Department of Malaysia (JIM) has dismantled a “flying passport” syndicate with the arrest of three suspects at the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex (KSAB) in Gelang Patah, Johor, yesterday, said Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban.
He said the operation, which began at 10am, involved a team of officers and personnel from the Putrajaya Immigration headquarters Intelligence and Special Operations Division and Johor JIM.
“This success was the result of follow-up action by JIM based on developments from investigations under Ops Crack conducted earlier in collaboration with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
“The operations team was deployed to the location and detained three individuals aged between 33 and 41,” he said in a statement today.
He said the team also seized mobile phones, keys to a premise, jewellery, Immigration security stamps and RM20,000 in cash.
According to Zakaria, the suspects were detained for allegedly committing offences under Section 12(1)(h) of the Passport Act 1966 and were taken to the Immigration Office for further action.
He said the syndicate’s modus operandi involved collecting passports belonging to foreign nationals without requiring the document owners’ physical presence at the country’s entry points.
“Copies of the passport front pages were then sent by the syndicate’s agents via WhatsApp to collaborators to be scanned, creating false movement records in JIM’s system,” he said, adding that agents charged RM700 for each foreign passport using the syndicate’s services.
Zakaria stressed that investigations would continue to identify the syndicate’s network.
“Firm action will be taken to curb any activities that violate the law to ensure the country’s stability and prosperity continue to be safeguarded,” he said. — Bernama
