Crippled: Syndicate forging papers for foreign workers

March 2, 2009 7:29:00 PM

The Star Online

By DHARMENDER SINGH

PUTRAJAYA: The Immigration Department has shut down a syndicate producing forged documents for foreign workers with the arrest here of two men and a woman from Indonesia on Sunday.

The syndicate, which had been operating for the last six months, would get Indonesian passports, usually expired, and then use various processes to fade out the details of the original holders and substitute them with those of its "clients."

They would then also put the necessary rubbers stamps to "renew" the passports, as well stamps for entry and exit points in Malaysia and Indonesia, before adding Malaysian work permit stickers.

Immigration deputy director-general Sulaiman Keling said the department's enforcement unit received a tip-off from the public and monitored the group's activities for two weeks before raiding the house used for its operations along KM8 Gombak, Kuala Lumpur.

He said the team arrested the two men and the woman at the house and found 17 forged Malaysian Immigration rubber stamps, 18 Indonesian and two Albanian passports, four Indonesian marriage certificates, 28 forged Malaysian Immigration stickers, a laptop computer, scanner, laminating machine, printer and other equipment.

The rubber stamps included entry stamps for Port Klang, Penang International Airport, Stulang Laut Port, Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), Pasir Gudang Port and Bukit Kayu Hitam; while the exit stamps were for Port Klang, Ipoh Airport, Pasir Gudang Port, KLIA, Pontian Port and Penang International Airport, he said.

Sulaiman said the two male suspects were held under Section 55D of the Immigration Act 1959/63 for forgery or alteration of endorsement of documents for use as a visa, permit, pass or certificate. They face a fine of up to RM100,000, up to 10 years jail and whipping if convicted.

Their female accomplice was being investigated under Section 56(1A)(c) for abetting or engaging in a criminal conspiracy to commit an offence under the same Act and faces a fine of up to RM10,000 or up to five years jail or both, if convicted.

"We believe there is a large demand here for this type of forged documents from Indonesian nationals who do not have valid travel documents or who have overstayed.

"This large demand is the reason that such syndicates keep popping up despite the numerous arrests we have made in the past," he told a press conference here Monday.

Sulaiman also advised employers, foreign workers and the public against getting documents stamped or renewed through third parties, and to visit Immigration offices themselves in order to avoid being duped by such syndicates.

He said it was difficult for someone who was not trained to tell the difference between a forged and original document.

Foreigners found using forged stamps or stickers, he said, faced a fine of up to RM10,000 or jail for up to five years or both, while employers with such foreign workers faced a fine of up to RM50,000 or 12 months jail or both for each such worker.

Sulaiman said the department's enforcement team had on Feb 18 shut down the operations of a similar syndicate with the arrest of two men during a raid at a house in Pandan Cahaya Indah, Kuala Lumpur.