PUTRAJAYA: The Immigration Department busted a SIM card scalping syndicate operated by Bangladeshi nationals at the arrival hall of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport during a special operation yesterday.
Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said a team conducted checks on nine Bangladeshi men aged 22 and 50 following public tip-off before arresting them.
Zakaria said the syndicate targeted newly arrived Bangladeshi tourists, selling the SIM cards directly to them.
“Preliminary interrogation revealed that the sale of these SIM cards could generate up to RM1,500 to RM2,000 per day. It is believed that they have been operating for the past two months,” he said in a statement today.
Zakaria said the team also seized four Bangladeshi passports, 10 mobile phones, 121 SIM cards from various telcos, eight SIM card ejector pins and RM1,555 in cash.
He said the SIM cards were registered under different names and sold at RM25 each.
He said checks found that five of the detainees did not possess valid travel documents and were being detained under Section 6(3) of the Immigration Act 1959/63, and two of them had overstayed and detained under Section 15(4) of the same Act.
Zakaria said two others were believed to have violated the conditions of their Temporary Work Visit Pass under Regulation 39(b) of the Immigration Regulations 1963, adding that all of them were taken to the Putrajaya Immigration Office for further investigation.
