Immigration Dept dismantle the remaining network of the ‘Iqbal Syndicate’, arresting two suspected Bangladeshi masterminds and five migrants in Kuala Lumpur.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Immigration Department has crippled the remaining network of a migrant smuggling ring known as the ‘Iqbal Syndicate’.
The operation on Tuesday led to the arrest of two suspected Bangladeshi masterminds at a service apartment in Taman Maluri.
The two men, aged 56 and 28, are believed to have acted as caretakers of the transit premises and as transporters.
Five Bangladeshi men, aged between 27 and 44, were also detained on suspicion of being smuggled migrants.
The premises were identified as a temporary transit home for migrants who had recently arrived from the East Coast.
“The migrants are believed to have been brought in via illegal land routes at the Malaysia-Thailand border before being sent to their next destinations,” the department said in a statement.
The group was part of the ‘Iqbal Syndicate’ previously dismantled by immigration authorities in Kelantan.
A Perodua Myvi believed to have been used to transport the migrants was also seized.
The operation involved the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants and Anti-Money Laundering divisions.
All seven individuals were taken to the Immigration Headquarters in Putrajaya for further investigation.
They are being probed under the ATIPSOM Act 2007 and the Immigration Act 1959/63.
On Sunday, the media reported that the department had crippled the syndicate in a special operation.
That raid led to the arrest of a 27-year-old Rohingya man from Myanmar who acted as a premises’ caretaker.
Twelve Bangladeshis, comprising 11 men and one woman, were also detained in that operation.
