Suspected masterminds of foreign worker syndicate arrested

PUTRAJAYA: A Myanmarese and a Bangladeshi were arrested by the Immigration Department (JIM) during a special operation in the federal capital on Wednesday on suspicion of being the masterminds of a foreign worker syndicate.

The suspects, both men, aged 50 and 52, were arrested on suspicion of having breached provisions in the Immigration Act 1959/63 (Act 155), the Passport Act 1966 (Act 150) and the Immigration Regulations 1963.

Immigration director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said they were detained at the Putrajaya Immigration Depot for further action. He said the suspect modus operandi was to act as foreign worker agents for the Workforce Recalibration Programme (RTK 2.0) by targeting Bangladeshi and Indonesian nationals.

“This syndicate offers services such as registration for the RTK 2.0 programme by imposing a fee of between RM1,500 and RM2,000 per person. They are believed to have been operating for a year,” he said in a statement yesterday.

He said checks found that the Myanmar man has a Permanent Resident (PR) status, while the Bangladeshi man has a Temporary Work Visit Pass (PLKS) for the Service Sector that is still valid and both are married to local citizens.

He said with the arrest of the two suspects, JIM also seized RM91,550, 12 Bangladeshi passports, copies of Indonesian passports, company documents, RTK programme application documents and three mobile phones. Three local individuals have also been given notice to appear at the immigration office to assist with the investigation, he said. — Bernama