A Malaysian woman believed to be the owner of the company behind the syndicate was among those detained. The others were 11 Bangladesh nationals and an Indian national, Bernama reported.

The immigration department said the syndicate charged foreigners RM500 for each service offered, and handled immigration matters related to passports and passes for foreigners, including social visit passes, temporary work passes, Labour Recalibration Programme 2.0 and visas.

“The syndicate is believed to have been operating for a year,” said Jafri Embok Taha, deputy director-general (operations) of immigration, in a statement today.

Initial checks revealed that three Bangladeshis and the Indian had valid passes.

Jafri said the 530 passports seized were from various countries, including Bangladesh (414), India (57), Indonesia (36), Myanmar (9), Pakistan (7), Sri Lanka (4) and the Philippines, Nepal and Malaysia (one each).

Other items seized included five desktop computers, one laptop computer, two CCTV decoders, two printers, 14 company stamps, business cards, Construction Industry Development Board registration cards, three birth certificates and RM13,900 in cash.

Jafri said all the foreign nationals have been detained at the Bukit Jalil immigration depot for further investigation.

The Malaysian woman is being held for suspected immigration and passport violations.

Six Malaysians have also been issued notices to report to the immigration office to assist in the investigation, he said.