KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 — The Immigration Department (JIM) has detained three Chinese nationals for allegedly using fake social visit passes as supporting documents in their applications for visas to the United States.
Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said that the three, a man and two women aged between 25 and 54, were arrested around the federal capital at 11.25 am yesterday.
He said the department also seized three passports bearing Social Visit Pass (Dependent) stickers from the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme, which were suspected to be fake.
“These long-term passes are suspected of being used to mislead the embassy and facilitate the processing of visa applications,” he said in a statement yesterday.
The suspects are now being held at the Putrajaya Immigration Depot, with the case being investigated under the Immigration Act 1959/63, the Passport Act 1966, and the Immigration Regulations 1963.
Zakaria said the arrests were a follow-up action after JIM uncovered a syndicate in October last year selling fake long-term passes priced up to RM10,000 each, which were intended to be used as supporting documents in visa applications to the United States.
Meanwhile, he said, 11 more Chinese nationals were arrested last Tuesday in the Klang Valley for allegedly misusing their social visit and employment passes.
He said five of them were arrested at four retail shops and restaurant premises around Dengkil, Selangor, while six women working as masseuses were arrested around Kepong.
“All these women are suspected of engaging in immoral activities, offering services for RM100 to RM300 per session,” he said, noting that a local man, believed to be the employer and caretaker of the premises, was also arrested during the raid. — Bernama
