[ad_1]
PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has paralyzed an immigration union with the arrest of 46 people, including 27 officers from the Immigration Department, says a source familiar with the matter.
According to the source, the suspects were arrested in Putrajaya, Selangor, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak in a joint MACC-Immigration undercover operation called “Ops Selat”.
In addition to the 27 immigration officers, 14 foreign worker agents and five members of the public who acted as intermediaries were arrested.
The union, which was active for the past year, operated out of the country’s main gateways, including KLIA, klia2 and Sultan Ismail’s Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (BIS) building.
“They have been on MACC’s radar since the motion control order (MCO) went into effect on March 18 and during the shutdown, they escalated their corrupt activities,” the source said.
The union served employers of foreign workers who wanted them to stay here or return to their home country.
The source explained that the union had two modus operandi, the first was an “air passport” for those who came to Malaysia on social visas but worked here illegally. This, he said, included those who work in bars and massage centers.
“Agents will collect their passports and pay immigration officers to stamp their passports to indicate that they have left the country after three months and have re-entered legally. In this way they can stay another three months.
“But none of the passport holders went to the immigration offices or left the country.”
The second modus operandi, the source said, was to “set counters” for migrants who have been blacklisted for immigration crimes.
“These migrants would go to the ‘setup counters’ at KLIA and pay up to RM6,000 to be allowed to leave the country even though they have been blacklisted to travel.”
MACC Director of Investigations Norazlan Mohd Razali confirmed the arrests but declined to comment further.
