Immigration Dept detects false E-cards

SHAH ALAM: The Immigration Department has detected attempts to come up with a false Enforcement Card or E- card that it has been distributing to all illegal migrant workers who have to register to obtain these identification cards.

Director- General of Immigration Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said yesterday the department had detected 40 of these false E- cards since the registration exercise began on Feb 15.

“We have acted against the socalled agents who attempted to issue the false E- cards. We will act against anyone at all trying to issue the false cards.

“We have also detained a Bangladeshi national who had eight false Ecards in his possession,” he said to reporters after joining an operation to flush out illegal immigrants in Kota Kemuning here yesterday.

Mustafar said the E- card issued by the department used a biometric system whereby information on the employer and migrant worker were inserted into the card and it was difficult to falsify.

“The design of the false E-card may be similar but the Quick Response Code (QR Code) is different. We can differentiate the card from the fingerprints of the employer and worker,” he said.

On the two operations, which began at 11pm on Tuesday and ended at 3am yesterday, Mustafar said 156 illegal migrant workers and two employers, all aged between 20 and 45, were arrested in Seri Kembangan and Kota Kemuning.

The workers were from Bangladesh, Nigeria, Vietnam, Indonesia and China, he added.

“The Immigration authorities are strict in safeguarding national sovereignty. The primary factor for any failure of the E- card system is the stubborn attitude of employers in not registering their illegal migrant workers,” he said.

Mustafar said the arrested illegal migrant workers would be deported to their countries of origin.

“They will be kept at the respective state immigration detention depots prior to deportation,” he added. — Bernama