Immigration officers have detained eight Bangladeshi men in a crackdown on an alleged illegal money transfer syndicate operating through the Hundi system in Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur.
The operation was conducted at three locations around Chow Kit at 2.37pm on Tuesday (Oct 27), following a month of intelligence gathering.
Immigration director-general Zakaria Shaaban said the operation involved officers from the department’s Intelligence and Special Operations Division at its headquarters in Putrajaya, with assistance from the National Financial Crime Prevention Centre (NFCC).
“Initial checks found that two of the men, aged between 24 and 42, had overstayed, while the others had misused their passes,” he said in a statement on Wednesday (Oct 28).
RM24,720 in cash seized
Zakaria said enforcement officers seized five Bangladeshi passports, five mobile phones, copies of Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) documents, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) licence copies, QR codes, a laptop, closed-circuit television (CCTV) equipment, shop stamps, shop keys and RM24,720 in cash believed to be proceeds from the activities.
“The syndicate allegedly used retail and wholesale business premises as fronts to conceal its illegal money transfer operations from the authorities.
“We believe the syndicate targeted Bangladeshis in the Klang Valley, using e-wallets and local bank accounts registered under foreign agents’ names to conduct financial transactions,” he said.
For customers without access to digital accounts, money was received and transferred in cash, he added.
Transactions exceeded RM180,000
Zakaria said further checks found that the Hundi agents operated according to Bangladesh’s banking hours, from Sundays to Thursdays between noon and 8pm local time.
“Transactions recorded in the e-wallet accounts from January to October this year exceeded RM180,000,” he said.
All eight men were detained for suspected offences under Section 15(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 and Regulation 39(b) of the Immigration Regulations 1963. They were taken to the Immigration Department for further investigation.
Zakaria said two Bangladeshi men, a Malaysian man and a Malaysian woman were also issued notices to appear at the department to assist in the investigation.
He said the department would not compromise on activities that violated the country’s laws and would continue to intensify enforcement to safeguard national stability and sovereignty.
