Detained: Mastermind behind syndicate forging passports

IPOH: The alleged mastermind behind a syndicate which forged passports was detained yesterday in a raid at his rented house in Ampang, Selangor.
Immigration Department Director-General Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said the 44-year-old suspect specialised in forging Indonesian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani passports, and marriage and travel documents, as well.
He said the man's modus operandi was to accept bookings through his acquaintance from Indonesia or in the country.
"The suspect also smuggled fake passports from Indonesia for the Malaysian market," he told a press conference here today.
Mustafar said the price for a blank forged passport was RM50 and it would be sold for between RM200 and RM300 after being processed.
He added that a fake blank marriage document was sold at RM60 while a processed document could be sold up to RM100.
"The estimated profit earned by the suspect was between RM3,000 and RM5,000 a month while the average total profit throughout his two-year operation as a forger was about RM80,000," he said. — Bernama