Staff Correspondent

A Bangladeshi man and his Indonesian female partner have been arrested in Malaysia for operating a fake working permit renewal syndicate in the country.

The Johor Immigration Department in Malaysia has arrested inside a room at an apartment in Pasir Gudang—a city in Johor Johor state in Malaysia, around 345 kilometres south of the capital Kuala Lumpur.

Johor Immigration director Baharuddin Tahir said that the duo, aged 44 and 37, was arrested under an operation dubbed Ops Serkap at 1.15 am on Friday (Dec 8) during a raid, according to The Star newspaper.

“The man was from Bangladesh while the woman was from Indonesia; the couple was arrested inside a room at an apartment in Pasir Gudang.

“Their main target is the foreign workers, especially Bangladeshis, who have issues renewing their working permits and the Workforce Recalibration Programme (RTK 2.0) work permit application,” he said in a statement here on Saturday (Dec 9).

He added that the duo, who claimed to be a husband and wife, is charging between RM2,500 (around Tk60,000) and RM3,000 (around Tk70,000) for each work permit application.

The department has also managed to confiscate 13 international passports from Bangladesh and India that were hidden inside a wardrobe and cash worth RM34,983.

“The woman is being investigated under Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 for entering the country without valid travel documents.

“While the man is being investigated under Section 55E of the Immigration Act 1959/63 for hiring foreign workers without legal permits and Section 12(1)(f) of the Passport Act 1966 for unlawful possession of another person's passport,” he said.