JOHOR BARU, Dec 20 — The Johor Immigration Department said it has crippled a syndicate falsifying work permits under the second Labour Recalibration Programme (RTK 2.0) and passports, following the arrest of a 26-year-old foreigner.
The suspect, a Bangladeshi who claimed to be the company owner, was arrested by Immigration officers at a premise in Tampoi here at 1.55pm.
Johor Immigration Department director Baharuddin Tahir said the man was suspected of running the illegal operation since the beginning of this year.
“Among the syndicate’s modus operandi was to procure and collect passports from the homes of the syndicate’s clientele to avoid detection.
“The syndicate targets foreigners who have problems applying for work permit extensions as well as RTK 2.0 registration for a fee of RM6,500 per application,” he told reporters at a media conference at the Johor Immigration Department’s state office in Taman Setia Tropika here today.
Baharuddin said a Myanmar national in his 20s was also arrested on suspicion of being a runner for the syndicate.
The department also seized a Lexus sports utility vehicle, several passports, a laptop, a hard drive with RTK 2.0 details, a mobile phone and RM2,058 in cash.
Baharuddin then said the Immigration Department has never appointed third parties to manage RTK 2.0 applications.
He added that this was the third group detected falsifying RTK 2.0 work permits and passports this month.
