An Indian national has been detained by Malaysian Immigration officials after he was found in possession of 15 passports belonging to a group of Myanmar nationals.
All the nationals apparently entered Malaysia using the forged letterhead of a hotel.
The man, who is in his 30s and is a permanent resident, was arrested at a McDonald's outlet on Monday.
He was arrested after the Immigration department nabbed two Malaysian men for assisting people using forged documents to bring in foreign labour into the country.
The scam came to light last week when the manager of a hotel in Klang brought the letter with the forged letterhead to the Immigration department, the Star newspaper said.
The manager claimed that he was called to the KL International Airport by Immigration officers who told him that 17 of the 56 Myanmar workers he had applied for had arrived.
On reaching the airport however, the officers told him that the workers had already been picked up by an official from the hotel.
The manager was then shown a letter bearing the letterhead of the hotel complete with his "signature", all of which turned out to be forged.
{{/usCountry}}The manager was then shown a letter bearing the letterhead of the hotel complete with his "signature", all of which turned out to be forged.
{{/usCountry}}Checks by the department revealed that the application had been made in the name of the hotel management and that RM 77,000 in levies for the Myanmar workers had been paid.
Work permits had also been issued for 23 of them. So far seven of the 17 workers have been located.