Bangladeshi nabbed for selling fake e-work permits
PUTRAJAYA: A Bangladeshi national, who raked in RM50,000 from selling fake temporary e-work permits (e-PLKS) for foreign workers, has been detained.
The 30-year-old suspect had been operating for the past six months from a carpet shop in Jalan Tun Tan Siew Sin, Kuala Lumpur.
It came to an end when a team of Immigration officers raided the shop at about 9.30am on Tuesday, Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban revealed yesterday.
He said the suspect had been charging RM50 for each fake e-PLKS slip.
'We believe the suspect also forged other documents and business letters. We seized various foreign passports and fake e-PLKS slips from the shop,' he told a press conference at the department headquarters here.
Zakaria said the suspect's customers were foreign workers who had issues with their e-PLKS applications.
'He took advantage of their situation by conning them as the fake e-PLKS slips would not pass inspection by Immigration officers.
'We have a specific device to scan the QR code on the slips. QR codes on fake e-PLKS are not usable and won't pass inspections,' he added.
The suspect charged each worker only RM50 as the cost to produce the fake e-documents was not expensive, he said.
'He only needed A4 paper, a computer and a printer. It is much cheaper compared to producing fake e-PLKS stickers,' he said.
In another case, three Indian nationals were detained for being bogus foreign worker agents, Zakaria said.
He said the trio, aged between 39 and 64, were detained in Jalan Masjid India.
'They had many foreign passports in their possession,' he added.
Zakaria said Immigration officers seized various items, including 504 foreign passports, four PCs, four printers, several fake e-PLKS slips, 40 i-Kads and RM94,322.
'Initial investigations revealed that syndicates attracted customers based on word of mouth. They avoided using social media to evade the authorities,' he said.
Zakaria said he did not rule out the possibility that some employers conspired to get the services of the syndicates based on the huge number of foreign passports seized.
He said the investigation was being conducted under the Immigration Act 1959/63 and the Passport Act 1966.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
39 minutes ago
- New Straits Times
TH Travel denies link with fake haj package programme
KUALA LUMPUR: TH Travel & Services Sdn Bhd (TH Travel) has denied it's connection with a fake programme known as "Program Haji Infaq Masyarakat" which allegedly offers TH Travel-managed haj packages priced at RM123,990 with an initial payment of as little as RM10,000. TH Travel, in a statement, said the company has never appointed any individual, external company or business entity to promote, manage or receive payment on behalf of TH Travel for any haj or umrah packages. The statement said that as a haj and umrah travel agency registered and fully regulated by the Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH), all payments related to registration and deposits for haj packages operated by TH Travel can only be made through TH's official account. "TH Travel does not offer subsidised or externally sponsored packages that require pilgrims to pay into unofficial or individual accounts. "TH Travel is not involved in any form of fundraising through cleaning companies, cake businesses or third party intermediaries," the statement said. TH Travel takes seriously the misuse of the company's name and reputation to deceive Muslims intending to perform the Haj pilgrimage. "We understand that a police report has been lodged and an investigation is underway by the authorities and TH Travel is prepared to provide full cooperation to the Royal Malaysia Police and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) in handling this case," the statement said. – BERNAMA
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
TH Travel denies any link with fake haj package programme
KUALA LUMPUR: TH Travel & Services Sdn Bhd (TH Travel) denies any connection with a fake programme known as "Program Haji Infaq Masyarakat" which allegedly offers TH Travel-managed haj packages priced at RM123,990 with an initial payment of as little as RM10,000. TH Travel, in a statement Saturday (June 7), said the company has never appointed any individual, external company or business entity to promote, manage or receive payment on behalf of TH Travel for any haj or umrah packages. The statement said that as a haj and umrah travel agency registered and fully regulated by Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH), all payments related to registration and deposits for hajj packages operated by TH Travel can only be made through TH's official account. "TH Travel does not offer subsidised or externally sponsored packages that require pilgrims to pay into unofficial or individual accounts. "TH Travel is not involved in any form of fundraising through cleaning companies, cake businesses or third party intermediaries," the statement said. TH Travel takes seriously the misuse of the company's name and reputation to deceive Muslims intending to perform the Hajj pilgrimage. "We understand that a police report has been lodged and an investigation is underway by the authorities and TH Travel is prepared to provide full cooperation to the Royal Malaysia Police and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) in handling this case," the statement said. - Bernama
Free Malaysia Today
5 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
US steps up crackdown on foreigners with LA raids, NY arrests
ICE agents have intensified operations in and around American immigration courts in recent weeks. (AP pic) LOS ANGELES : Masked and armed federal agents carried out sweeping immigration raids in Los Angeles yesterday, while others pounced on migrants at a New York courthouse in forceful displays of US President Donald Trump's crackdown on people without papers. From courthouses to hardware store parking lots in two of the most diverse cities in the world, federal agents wrestled migrants into handcuffs and unmarked vehicles. Agents used extreme tactics, conducting unprecedented raids on at least three areas of Los Angeles to detain dozens of people. At one sweep less than 2 miles from Los Angeles City Hall, agents threw flash-bang grenades to disperse angry crowds of people following alongside a convoy of immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) vehicles as protesters hurled eggs and epithets at the agents, media reported. 'Terror' 'As a mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place,' LA mayor Karen Bass said in a statement. 'These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city.' White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who grew up in LA's Santa Monica, insisted on social media platform X that Bass had 'no say in this at all'. 'Federal law is supreme and federal law will be enforced.' Service Employees International Union leader David Huerta was briefly detained while documenting one of the raids in Los Angeles, according to media reports. 'Hard-working people, and members of our family and our community, are being treated like criminals,' Huerta said in a statement after his release. Homeland security investigations spokesman Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe told the Los Angeles Times that federal agents were executing search warrants related to the harbouring of people illegally in the country. Hundreds of protesters gathered in downtown Los Angeles yesterday afternoon to demand the release of detainees, broadcaster ABC7 reported. The largely peaceful rally was later ordered to disperse by police, with some violent clashes between protesters and riot police being reported. NY courthouse arrests Hundreds of protesters gathered in downtown Los Angeles yesterday afternoon to demand the release of detainees. (AP pic) Across the country, plainclothes agents in New York pounced on two immigrants in the hallway of a courthouse yesterday. AFP saw the officers yell for the men not to move before forcing them to lay face-down on the ground as they were handcuffed and arrested. It was not immediately clear why the two men were arrested. Trump was elected to a second term with broad support for his promise to crack down hard on the entry and presence of undocumented migrants. ICE agents have intensified such operations in and around American immigration courts in recent weeks. The department of homeland security revoked regulations that limited agents' access to protected areas such as courts after Trump returned to office in January. One of the men arrested in New York was Joaquin Rosario, a 34-year-old Dominican who arrived in the US a year ago, registered as he came in and who had his first immigration hearing yesterday, his relative Julian Rosario said. 'He was at ease. He did not think anything was going to happen,' the relative said, adding that Rosario was so unworried he had not brought his lawyer with him. The other detainee appeared to be Asian. He arrived accompanied only by one of many immigration advocacy group volunteers who walk immigrants to and from the courtroom. The volunteers screamed out as the agents arrested the two men but it did nothing to halt the raid. 'Sound the alarm' Human rights groups are outraged by such operations, arguing that they sap trust in the courts and make immigrants wary of showing up for appointments as they try to gain US residency. 'They're illegal abductions,' said Karen Ortiz, a court employee who was demonstrating yesterday against the sudden arrests of migrants. 'We need to sound the alarm and show the public how serious this is and one way we can do that is actually physically putting ourselves between a masked ICE agent and someone they're trying to detain and send away,' she told AFP. Trump has dramatically tested the limits of executive power to crack down on foreigners without papers since he returned to office, arguing that the US is being invaded by criminals and other undesirables.
