Immigration director-general Zakaria Shaaban said the five Bangladeshis and one Pakistani, aged between 30 and 50, were detained yesterday.

He said operation teams investigated 17 people at the three locations raided –  Taman Kemuning Utama in Shah Alam, and Taman Pandan Cahaya and Jalan Datuk Eusoff in Kuala Lumpur – based on public information and intelligence collected over three weeks.

“One of the detained Bangladeshi is believed to be the employer of all the foreign workers involved,” Bernama quoted him as saying in a statement today.

Zakaria said initial checks found that one Bangladeshi man possessed a valid pass, another had overstayed, and one Bangladeshi and the Pakistani national had violated their pass conditions.

He said two other Bangladeshi men were found without travel documents or valid permits to remain in the country.

Zakaria said the department confiscated 394 Bangladeshi passports, six Indonesian passports, two Indian passports, nine Pakistani passports, one Philippines passport, three mobile phones, company stamps and cash totalling RM12,550.

He said a car was also seized, adding that the company was believed to have been operating for a year.

“The company’s modus operandi was to supply foreign workers, approved under the foreign worker quota system, via calling visas and previous recalibration programmes.

“This company supplied foreign workers to employers blacklisted from applying for foreign worker quotas, charging RM8,000 per worker,” he said.

Zakaria also said the company offered temporary employment visit pass extension services, with fees ranging from RM4,000 to RM6,000 per worker annually.