PUTRAJAYA: The Immigration Department had busted the syndicate known as ‘Bahnu Internationals’ via modus operandi that used poor Malaysian parents with details of their children under 12 years old being manipulated on the pretext of applying Malaysian International Passports to travel to Europe.
Immigration Department Director General, Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said, the syndicate modus operandi was detected following the arrest of a husband and wife aged 37, 26 respectively on April 12 in Kuala Lumpur.
“The couple turned up at Kuala Lumpur Immigration headquarters to get a Malaysian passport for a Sri Lankan child.
“The syndicate would trick parents by bringing their child’s birth certificate to the immigration office on the pretext of wanting to make a passport for the kid,” he said in a statement.
“During the application process, a Sri Lankan child would be ushered to the counter instead to get their fingerprint and photograph taken.
“Once completed, the husband and wife would act as a “Transporter” by bringing the Sri Lankan child with a Malaysian passport to Europe.
“After processing the passport application that day had suspected something was not right when the guardian looked significantly different from the child who could not speak Malay,” Ruslin added.
According to Ruslin, the parents were paid RM500 for bringing their child to the immigration office and investigations showed that the syndicate received 30,000 to 50,000 euros for each Sri Lankan child taken to Europe on Malaysian passports.
However, both the suspects had been charged under Section 26A Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (ATIPSOM) 2007 at the Sessions Court, Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, April 19, 2023.
The suspects had been detained in Kajang Prison until the date of mention at the court on 11th May 2023. –Malaysia World News
