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Malaysian authorities have detained 27 Bangladeshis for their alleged involvement in a racket producing fake documents for foreign workers, according to local media.
Ten Bangladeshi men and one woman among those detained are suspected of masterminding the racket.
Citing Malaysian Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, Malay Mail reported that the arrests were made during simultaneous raids at 11 locations in the Jalan Chan Sow Lin commercial area of Kuala Lumpur on Monday.
Of the 27 Bangladeshis detained, 11 are accused of operating the alleged document-forgery racket targeting foreign workers. The remaining 16 were detained for alleged violations of immigration laws.
Three other foreigners—one Myanmar national and two Indonesians—were also detained for alleged immigration offences.
During the operation, codenamed “Ops Sercap”, authorities seized 18 laptops, 21 printers and scanners, three mobile phones and 10 Bangladeshi passports.
Authorities also found copies of forged Temporary Employment Visit Passes (e-PLKS) and fake police reports, according to the minister.
Saifuddin said each fake employment pass was sold for 150 Malaysian ringgit, while fake police reports were sold for 70 ringgit.
He said Malaysia’s Immigration Department was intensifying operations against syndicates involved in manipulating the foreign worker management system and forging documents.
The crackdown comes as discussions on reopening Malaysia’s labour market to Bangladeshi workers have gained momentum.
Malaysia imposed restrictions on the recruitment of workers from Bangladesh in 2024 amid allegations of irregularities and labour exploitation. The two countries subsequently began discussions on reopening the labour market.
Recently, Malaysia listed another 312 Bangladeshi agencies as “associate recruiting agencies”. Earlier, 25 Bangladeshi recruiting agencies and state-run Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL) were approved under Malaysia’s centralised foreign worker recruitment system.
Allegations of syndicates charging Bangladeshi workers excessive fees for jobs in Malaysia have persisted for years.
In July, Bangladesh cancelled the licences of 49 recruiting agencies over alleged irregularities in sending workers to Malaysia.
According to Anti-Corruption Commission data, the agencies had sent 267,276 workers to Malaysia and were accused of collecting fees above the government-set rate and embezzling Tk4,545 crore.
The ACC also found allegations that workers were charged as much as five times the government-prescribed cost in some cases.
