ICs for cash syndicate smashed

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KOTA KINABALU: The Royal Commission of Inquiry on the presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah was told that the police had smashed a syndicate that was offering foreigners with Malaysian identity cards for cash.

A total of 15 people, including an officer with the National Registration Department (NRD) headquarters in Putrajaya, were arrested and charged with fraud, the panel was told.

Lahad Datu Commercial Crime Department investigating officer Inspector Abdul Satal Mad said the syndicate charged a fee of between RM2,500 and RM4,000 for their services.

He disclosed that the NRD officer was arrested in a hotel in Tawau on May 25 last year following reports by three of the syndicate’s ‘clients’ in Lahad Datu.

“They were promised temporary identity card receipts after paying the money but never received them, so they lodged police reports against the suspects,” he said, adding that the officer and another man had been charged in court for allegedly committing fraud.

Meanwhile, his Tawau counterpart, Inspector Mohd Sany Husin, disclosed that 10 Pakistanis who were ‘victims’ of the syndicate were also nabbed during the raid but were subsequently released without charge.