KUALA LUMPUR: Dozens of Malaysia Immigration Department officers - including a senior officer - were arrested by graft busters recently in connection to a syndicate that purportedly brought in foreign workers illegally into the country.

The senior officer – who is in his 40s – was allegedly the mastermind behind a “counter-setting” operation at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Azam Baki told local media on Wednesday (Sep 18).

Counter-setting is when foreigners enter a country without proper documents at designated and predetermined lanes at entry points.

“We believe he had influenced (about) 50 immigration officers. He had served in the department for about 20 years,” Mr Azam was quoted as saying by The Star, adding that the suspect was detained on Sep 5 after he and several others had attempted to flee earlier.

“He is also believed to be responsible for distributing bribes among the other officers.”

Mr Azam said that his agency had gathered intelligence over six months before launching several operations targetting the counter-setting syndicate working out of the airport.

"To date, we have arrested 49 Immigration Department officers, one policeman, two agents as well as eight individuals who supplied mule bank accounts,” the New Straits Times (NST) reported the MACC chief as saying.

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The three operations saw MACC making seizures of over RM1 million (US$234,000) in cash, along with vehicles, jewellery and gold, Free Malaysia Today reported.

“A total of 215 bank accounts have been frozen, with a combined total of more than RM3 million,” the news portal reported Mr Azam as saying, with these accounts belonging to the immigration officers and agents acting for the syndicate.

NST reported that the anti-graft agency had on Aug 21 dismantled a syndicate responsible for smuggling foreign nationals from Myanmar, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, and Nepal into Malaysia through unofficial entry points.

On Wednesday, Mr Azam said that the bribes given to the implicated immigration officers had codenames based on the nationalities of the foreigners being brought in.

The bribes would differ based on the nationalities of those foreigners.

“The officers were bribed with between RM200 and RM2,500 for each foreigner,” Mr Azam said, according to The Star.

The modus operandi of the syndicate includes coordination among the agents and immigration officers via WhatsApp, where they will find a suitable date for the foreigners to enter Malaysia along with their details.

“The officers will give the number for the special counter to be used by the foreigners for easy access into the country,” said Mr Azam, adding that the agents would then send these foreigners to their intended destinations.

At the press conference on Wednesday, Mr Azam mooted the idea of prohibiting immigration officers at the two KLIA terminals from using their mobile phones while on duty to prevent a recurrence of the syndicate from happening, Malay Mail reported.

He also recommended that the schedule for assigning officers at the counters be finalised only after they have reported for duty and are already in the counter zoneppgaming, with the assignments being managed by a separate party.

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