Foreign worker fraud: Two Bangladeshis among 20 held in Malaysia

Published : 09 Oct 2026, 06:57 PM

Updated : 09 Oct 2026, 06:57 PM

The Malaysian Immigration Department has arrested 20 people, including two Bangladeshis, on suspicion of involvement in a syndicate abusing foreign workers quotas in a special operation conducted in Taman Datuk Ahmad Razali, Ampang district of Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur.

A report by the Malay Mail on Friday, citing the department’s Director-General Zakaria Shaaban, said that the operation was carried out at 7:30am local time.

It was conducted by the Intelligence and Special Operations Division at the Immigration Headquarters in Putrajaya in collaboration with the Strategic Compliance Branch of the Inland Revenue Board and the Intelligence Department.

The operation was carried out based on information provided by locals and Malaysian immigration intelligence.

In a statement, Zakaria said: “Those detained comprised two Bangladeshi men believed to be the business owner and manager, six local female employees, and 12 foreign customers—nine Bangladeshi men and three Indonesian women.

“The operation team also seized 265 Bangladeshi passports, 63 Indonesian passports, 12 Pakistani passports and one Indian passport, as well as RM6,700 in cash believed to be proceeds from customer payments,”

An initial investigation found the syndicate used the so-called “A-to-B” employer system. Under this arrangement, an organisation (Employer A) would obtain approval for a foreign worker quota and bring in workers under a temporary employment inspection pass. But instead of having them work under the main employer, it would supply those workers to another organisation for profit.

The syndicate is also believed to have submitted false documents by concealing true information regarding the relevant companies to obtain approval for the worker quota.

The investigation also found that the foreign workers brought to Malaysia for a particular company with a quota were instead working for other companies.

Zakaria said, “This activity is believed to generate profits of between RM3,800 and RM5,000 per worker. To evade tax payments, the companies involved were found to have declared profits far below their actual financial records and failed to report personal income for the years of assessment 2020 to 2023.”

He said that the owner, manager and a local employee of the main business were arrested on suspicion of offences under Section 56(1)(l) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 and Section 12(1)(f) of the Passport Act 1966. In addition, 12 foreign customers were also arrested under the Immigration Act 1959/63 and the Immigration Regulations 1963.

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