‘ Professor’ of passports detained

> Bangladeshi believed to have masterminded forgery syndicate

PUTRAJAYA: First there was a “Dr Ganja” who claimed he could treat drug addicts, and now a “professor” behind a syndicate producing faking passports and immigration permits has been arrested.

Immigration Department Director-General Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said the suspect, in his 30s, was caught at 1.30am on Sunday at an undisclosed location in Kuala Lumpur.

“The arrest of the mastermind, a Bangladeshi, came following a tip-off and we decided to bait another Bangladeshi, also in his 30s, who was the main man for the ‘professor’.

“We waited for the suspected mastermind for seven hours in KL and subsequently detained him upon his arrival to meet the Bangladeshi,” he told reporters at the Immigration Department headquarters here yesterday.

Mustafar added, upon interrogation, the suspect led investigators to a premises in Ampang believed to be his home and the lab where he processed the invalid documents.

Immigration personnel found several stickers and fake cards comprising Visit PassTemporary Employment, illegal immigrant workers Enforcement Card, identification card for international students, fake passports and Construction Industry Development Board of Malaysia cards.

“Officers also seized four printers, two scanners, 13 fake Bangladesh Embassy stamps, cash worth RM11,480 and 16 Bangladesh passport covers.

“Preliminary investigation also revealed that the syndicate has been active for the past one year and raked RM50,000 profits with their unscrupulous activities,” he said.

Mustafar said the process to make a fake E-card could only take about five minutes while making a fake passport could take about two hours.

Upon completion of the requested orders, the handing over of the fake permits or passports to the customers would be at venues determined by the mastermind at LRT stations in Klang Valley.

The customers were mainly Bangladeshis, Nepalese and Indian nationals.

The case is being investigated under Section 56(1)(l) Immigration Act 1959/63 and Section 12(1)(a) of the Passport Act.

Mustafar said syndicates were offering employers fake ECards for between RM1,000 and RM4,000 each.

The department detected more than 50 cases of fake ECard scams that were being offered by the syndicate to local and foreign employers.

Earlier this year, a 58-year-old army veteran, who went by the moniker “Dr Ganja”, had been growing ganja in his house which he prescribed as medicine for those unable to seek treatment.