Immigration officers detained eight Myanmar nationals and seized fake documents in a crackdown on syndicates exploiting breached systems to sell illegal work passes.
PUTRAJAYA: The Immigration Department of Malaysia (JIM) has detained eight Myanmar nationals, including a woman believed to be an illegal agent, during a special operation in Bandar Mahkota Cheras, Selangor, on Saturday, uncovering a scheme offering Temporary Employment Visit Passes (PLKS) suspected to have been obtained illegally.
Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said the operation, which began at 3.50 pm, was carried out by officers from the Putrajaya Immigration headquarters Intelligence and Special Operations Division, following a joint operation with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on July 28 under Op Crack.
“Preliminary investigations found that the Myanmar woman detained is linked to a Myanmar man believed to be the mastermind of the syndicate, who was earlier arrested by MACC during Op Crack with JIM.
“Also detained were one man and six women from Myanmar, believed to be waiting to be sent to prospective employers, bringing the total arrests to eight individuals aged between 29 and 56,” he said in a statement today.
Zakaria said checks revealed that the female suspect possessed a PLKS for the service sector, four of the women had overstayed, while one man and two other women had no valid passes or travel documents.
He said the operation team also seized 16 Myanmar passports, copies of PLKS believed to be fake, documents related to the supply of workers, as well as a Toyota Yaris car suspected to have been used by the syndicate.
The syndicate, believed to have been operating since early this year, offered services to obtain PLKS suspected to have been issued illegally through a breached Malaysian Immigration System (MyIMMs). It also supplied foreign workers to employers in the Klang Valley, charging between RM8,000 and RM10,000 per worker.
The suspects were detained under various provisions of the Immigration Act 1959/63 and the Passport Act 1966, and have been sent to the Putrajaya Immigration Office for further action.
Zakaria stressed that investigations will continue to identify the syndicate’s network and curb any activities that violate the country’s laws.
JIM had earlier announced it would cancel 1,306 PLKS approved illegally following the MyIMMs breach.
The move followed the arrest of 12 individuals, including six JIM officers, suspected of colluding in hacking the MyIMMs system to obtain illegal PLKS approvals.
