Once again, news of arrested migrant workers on Malaysian soil has been brought to light.
This time, the Malaysian Immigration Department uncovered a syndicate operated by two men from India and Bangladesh that supplied falsely documented migrant workers with fake temporary visit permits or Pas Lawatan Kerja Sementara (PLKS).
In a special operation conducted on the 5th and 6th of April, Immigration officers joined by the Intelligence & Special Operations Division as well as the Putrajaya Enforcement Division raided a factory and a foreign worker dormitory in Selangor.
According to a Facebook post by the Immigration Department, they also raided the syndicate’s operational office in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur.
During the raid, the operation team arrested a total of 65 falsely documented migrant workers aged between 25 to 45 years old. 43 of them were from India, 20 were from Bangladesh and another 2 were from Pakistan.
Further investigations uncovered that the main mastermind of the syndicate is a 45-year-old Indian man with a genuine Expatriate Passport. He worked with a 30-year-old Bangladeshi man residing in Seremban, believed to be a senior member of the syndicate.
As a result of interrogation and confessions from the suspects, it was found that the syndicate’s modus operandi was to supply foreign labour to employers and factories that need workers.
If accepted, the syndicate will provide their foreign workers with fake PLKS stickers. This was done to convince factories or employers that they are legal and legitimate workers based on their passport stickers.
Each foreign worker who had to have temporary work visit passes (PLKS) would be charged RM 6000 by the syndicate while owners of factories pay the syndicate the workers’ wages.
This syndicate is believed to make a profit of RM4.5 to RM5 million a year as a result of falsifying foreign workers’ permits.
All those detained are suspected of having committed an offence under the Immigration Act 1959/63, the Immigration Regulations 1963 and the AMLATFPUAA Act 2001.
They were all detained at the Semenyih Immigration Depot for further investigation and action.
