After two months of surveillance, the Immigration Department crippled a document forgery syndicate active in the Klang Valley with the arrest of several foreigners, including its mastermind recently.

The department first mounted a raid on July 9 at a house in Cheras, Selangor used as a base for the activity, and arrested two Bangladeshi men and a Mongolian woman.

That arrest led the department to another house dwelled by the mastermind, also a Bangladeshi man, at a house in Old Klang Road in Selangor the next day.

Immigration director-general Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud said the 39-year-old suspect has been residing in Malaysia on a Temporary Employment Visit Pass (PLKS) for the past 10 years and was involved in the services sector. He began dabbling in document forgery last year.

“He charged RM300 for a single forged PLKS pass and RM100 for a forged passport,” he said in a statement today.

At the Old Klang Road premise, the department found nine forged Bangladeshi passports, forged PLKS passes, a laptop, a printer and various other equipment to forge passports and also Nissan Sentra vehicle, all of which were seized.

“The suspect is believed to have made profits of between RM8,000 and RM10,000 a month for the forged documents of which proceeds were sent to Bangladesh,” he said.

Khairul Dzaimee said the suspect would drive around looking for potential clients around Kuala Lumpur before offering his services for forged PLKS passes and passports.

- BERNAMA