THE Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has broken up a major nationwide immigration crime ring, specialising in falsifying entry and exit stamps at the country’s main borders, the anti-graft agency said today, following the arrest of 46 people including 27 immigration officers yesterday.

The special sting operation, known as Op Selat, was carried out in collaboration with the Immigration Department through intelligence gathering and monitoring of the country’s entry and exit points, especially Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and the Sultan Ismail Building in Johor Baru.

According to an MACC source, all of the suspects were detained around Putrajaya, Selangor, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak, with 13 people – including nine immigration officers – remanded in Johor, while another 23 were remanded in Putrajaya today.

“Those detained include 27 immigration officers, 14 foreign worker agents and five civilians acting as middlemen aged between 21 and 46.

“The syndicate has been carrying out their activities for the past year, and has been under the MACC’s radar since the commencement of the movement control order (MCO) on March 18,” the source told Bernama.

According to the source, the group became more active during the enforcement of the MCO and focused on migrant workers stranded in the country.

“There are many requests from employers to extend the permits, as well as requests for foreign workers or migrants to return to their country of origin.

“The syndicate uses two methods: the first being the ‘flying passport’, where agents will collect the passports of foreign workers or migrants with expired social visit passes to get exit and entry stamps on them to enable their visas to be extended,” the source said.

In this case, only the passports were sent to the immigration office without the presence of the individuals.

The second method was the ‘setting counter’, particularly those set up at KLIA, where immigrants who are blacklisted and have expired travel visas are charged between RM500 to RM6,000 per person to freely enter or return to their respective countries.

“This is a serious breach of our country’s entry points and the MACC greatly appreciates the co-operation provided by the director-general of the Immigration Department in terms of exchanging information,” he said.

Meanwhile, MACC investigation director Norazlan Mohd Razali said the case was being investigated under Section 16 of the MACC Act 2009.

In a similar development, Immigration Department director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud said full co-operation would be given to the MACC to complete the investigation.

He said the detention of the immigration officers under suspicion was made possible with the co-operation of both parties.

“The Immigration Department will not compromise with any officers or staff who abuse the powers provided under the Immigration Act and Regulations for personal interest or gain,” he said in a statement. – Bernama, November 17, 2020.